Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Canadian goods could significantly reduce the number of Canadians visiting Maine for vacation, according to the state’s top tourism official.
In testimony to a legislative committee on Friday, Carolann Ouellette, director of the Maine Office of Tourism, said visits from Canada to the U.S. are expected to drop by a minimum of 24 percent, based on a new report from Tourism Economics.
That’s a stark difference from the change to overall international visits to the U.S., which are expected to drop 9.4 percent, Ouellette said, nothing that just a few months ago tourism officials were anticipating an 8.8 percent increase.
Roughly 900,000 Canadians visit Maine per year, representing about 5 percent of visitors to the state, Ouellette said. A 25 percent decrease would mean 225,000 fewer of them coming across the border for vacation.
“It’s probably more sentiment-based at this point because the tariffs aren’t specific to travel expenses” Ouelette said. But she added that the effect of tariffs on household expenses could sway how much people are willing to spend on vacation and where they go.
Maine could try to attract more domestic visitors, Ouellette said, but there will be competition for those vacationers, too.
“The challenge for us will be the fact that the big players in the industry will also be targeting U.S. travelers to make up for the loss of the international inbound,” she said.
