A continuing decline in Canadian tourists has The Strong National Museum of Play cutting back on efforts to expand its draw north of the border.
“We’re actually pulling back on our advertising that we had planned for this summer in Canada,” said museum President and CEO Steve Dubnik.
The museum is something of a bellwether for quantifying the tourism decline locally. So far this year, the regional destination has seen a 13% drop in Canadian visitors, translating to 3,000 fewer patrons.
“You know," Dubnik said, "the sentiment in Canada that we've been seeing from surveys and so on is that people are less inclined to travel to the United States right now.”
The museum first noted a downturn in mid-March, as President Donald Trump disparaged Canada and suggested annexing the country, while also threatening tariffs. That triggered a movement to boycott travel to the U.S. in protest of the administration — abruptly reversing a years-long trend of increasing Canadian travel into the United States.
The number of travelers crossing into the United States from Canada by vehicle is down 22% since February, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And the decline is growing by the month.
“You can see it’s down across all of New York state,” said Don Jeffries, president and CEO of Visit Rochester, the region's tourism and development marketing organization.
For Dubnik, that’s a concern. And why the museum slashed its Canadian advertising budget by 75% for this summer, officials said. They did not release dollar amounts.
Separately, Visit Rochester has tweaked a previously planned advertising push targeting Canada. The remade “Dear Canada” campaign is focused on the so-called "Golden Horseshoe," a densely populated region anchored by Toronto. The campaign's message is simple, officials said: “We’re ready when you are.” Jeffries is optimistic the drop in travel will be short-lived.
Outside of Rochester and Buffalo, the Toronto area is the Museum of Play’s biggest market. And officials had made a major push to draw more Canadians since an expansion two years ago; part of a goal to reach 1 million total visitors annually.
Last year the museum drew more than 690,000 visitors. One in 10 came from Canada, Dubnik said.
“And our goal this year was to continue that growth towards, you know, that nearly 1 million that we stated as part of the expansion,” he said. “And we're tracking in that direction. We expect to exceed 700,000 this year, but a little differently than we planned.”
At the same time Canadians have pivoted more toward supporting Canadian products and destinations, so, too, it seems have Americans.
“There are some similar efforts within the United States, and certainly within New York state, of stay home, stay here, do something locally,” Dubnik said. “So we're actually redirecting some of our advertising dollars more towards a staycation effort ... and we think we have a good chance of being successful with that.”
So far, the museum has been drawing more people from New York state willing to make a two- or three-hour drive to come visit -- and stay. One indication of the latter is the continued growth in sales of two-day tickets, which were introduced with the expansion opening.
“So that leads me to believe that, you know, people are still buying, and they're still coming here to stay,” Dubnik said. “They just may be coming from a different place.”
The same is being seen across the region, with Visit Rochester’s Jeffries pointing to continued strong hotel occupancy through May.
Tourism generates more than $1 billion in Monroe County. Historically, officials said, Canadians have accounted for upwards of 20% of that spending.
