Canadians usually flock to the Jersey Shore. Will Trump keep them from coming back?

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — During some weeks in August, the 80-acre Avalon Campground on Route 9 is about half French-speaking Canadians, says general manager Mike Slifer. It’s been that way for generations.

“When you’re talking about working-class Canadian families that have enough of a budget to go on a nice vacation for the family, this is where they’re going to come,” Slifer says. He’s confident they’ll be back this summer.

But others have reasons to doubt, amid the noise from President Donald Trump over tariffs and trade wars, talk of travel boycotts, economic uncertainty, and the 51st state insult, not to mention the exchange rate (one Canadian dollar is currently worth 70 cents in the U.S.).

Duane Watlington, who runs Vacation Rental Wildwoods, a rental reservation site, said search traffic from Canada was down 62% in January compared with 2024 and, in February, down more than 80% (from 772 families searching to 149).

“There’s a lot of external factors,” he said. “I think it’s the strength of the dollar. Our vacations are more expensive this year. And there’s a little bit of a grudge.”

Motel owners and others in Cape May County say the Canadians who have driven down from Quebec and Ontario provinces every summer, some families since the 1960s, driving 10 hours to the comfort of (relatively) warm ocean waters, have been like family. But, also like families, they’re currently miffed.

“Some of them are pissed, pardon the expression,” said Lester Katsanis of the Quebec Motel on Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood. He said that overall bookings are a bit slower, and that it’s too early to draw conclusions. Business from Canada has dropped in general since before the pandemic. “It’s a hiccup,” he said of the current environment.

Gaby Ralph, of Ottawa, who is married to a Philly native, says her family has enjoyed years of travel down the Shore, to Philadelphia and to Florida, and, last year, to Rehoboth Beach.

But she’s skipping this year, and says many of her friends in Canada are as well.

“Given the 51st state nonsense and the looming tariffs, we’ve decided to cancel and are looking at travel to Europe instead,” Ralph said. “It’s just the thing that’s really bothering a lot of people, the 51st state, that keeps getting repeated.

“Last year we went to see the Phillies in Florida for spring training, but we decided not to this year,” she said by phone from Ottawa. “We’d planned to go back to Rehoboth this summer, but we were like hmm … no.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested in early February that Canadians consider changing any plans to vacation in the United States, and Canadian travel agencies are reporting as much as 40% drops in bookings.

“We were sad to have to cancel,” Ralph added. “The politics definitely plays a role. The exchange rate, it is what it is.”

Various motel, campground, and independent landlords in Cape May County are also reporting sporadic cancellations.

Johanna Zarroli of Island Realty in Wildwood said, “Most of our reservations are still in place for our Canadian clients.” But, “I’ve had one or two just say they’re not coming to the U.S. anymore.”

Marilena Von Rohr rents four units in Wildwood as Mikayla’s Cove and said by email, “Yes, I have received communication from Canadians that they will not be returning to Wildwood this year.”

Last month, tourism officials in the Wildwoods issued a news release welcoming “Our Canadian Neighbors with Affordable Travel Options.” It stressed the decades-long “deep and enduring connection” between Canadians and the Wildwoods, and, mindful of the exchange rate, pointed out the free things to be found in the Wildwoods (starting with its beaches).

Mike Snyder of Visit South Jersey attended the Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show in Toronto late last month, along with numerous other New Jersey and American destination representatives. (New Jersey’s slogan was “little state LOTTA WOW.”) He said the reception was positive.

“If there was a concern, it was more about the currency exchange,” he said.

But John Donio, president of the Wildwood Business Improvement District, said his members have seen cancellations, and at his motel, the Daytona Inn, the usual reservation calls from Quebec and Ontario provinces have yet to materialize.

“Of all people,” he said, he would have thought Trump, who famously was in the South Jersey hospitality business himself, would have been sensitive to the impact of his comments and policies.

“The Canadian business right now is in a little bit of peril,” said Donio. “All around the tourism industry in New Jersey, we’re concerned with some of the federal government’s policies right now toward Canada, which is coming off as adversarial I feel toward a lot of Canadian tourists. It’s kind of turning them off toward visiting America.”

Border officials in Canada, meanwhile, report a decrease in Canadians returning from vacations by car in recent months, compared with a year ago (their statistics are recorded from the Canadian side). For instance, between Feb. 16 and 22 there were 431,489 returning Canadian cars from the United States, compared with 565,328 in 2024.

Earlier this year, ski resorts in Vermont expressed concern that the visitors from Canada they rely on might stay away during the winter.

“I respect the difficulty of reconciling your love of a place with any political motivations keeping you from even this, the most special of places,” wrote Steve Wright, general manager of Jay Peak Resort, in a post on Facebook that got thousands of thumbs-ups. “I wish I had more to offer than just empathy for difficult decisions but, for now, that will have to do.”

But Dehlia Wright, a spokesperson for Jay Peak, said last week that the concern had abated. “We’re sold out for Quebec and Ontario break week, and it appears there are lots of Canadians still willing to travel to us,” she said in an email.

Back in Wildwood, Katsanis of the Quebec Motel said he would work to offset the exchange rate with returning customers from the North.

“We’re wiling to work with the Canadians,” Katsanis said. “For repeat customers, we’ll give them 20% off to accommodate them. For all these years they came down and supported us, they deserve to get treated with respect.”

A Trump supporter himself, as are many in Wildwood, Katsanis cites the flow of fentanyl into the United States, which Trump has used as justification for imposing tariffs, though nearly all fentanyl seized by the U.S. comes through the southern border, not the northern, according to Customs and Border Patrol data. He doesn’t think politics will keep Canadians away. “They enjoy coming down and staying with their American friends,” he said. “No matter what Trump says.”

Over at the Nassau Inn, general manager Lisa Merritts-Boncoski said she hasn’t noticed any cancellations and was optimistic that all would be forgiven by summer.

She noted that the “construction week” holiday that brings Canadians often coincides with “Ukrainian Week” in Wildwood, potentially uniting a variety of global concerns in the Wildwoods this August, all in service of a kitschy throwback beach vacation.

“We have a lot of Canadians,” she said, stroking the head of her yellow bearded dragon lizard, Pickett. “Our people rebook and rebook and rebook.”