We Didn’t Start the Fire: A Response to U.S. Tourism Envoy Nick Adams

I’m not a fan of travel boycotts. I believe travel should build bridges, not burn them. I continue to travel to the U.S. despite some criticism, because I believe dialogue is critical to understanding. If we’re not talking to each other, how do we overcome misperceptions? More importantly these days, how do we overcome rampant misinformation?

Nick Adams, the U.S. presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism & values, recently delivered a message to the leaders of countries he sees as encouraging travel boycotts of the U.S., with Canada the most prominent and impactful among them.

“Cut the nonsense and start doing business,” Adams told attendees at the recent World Travel & Tourism Council’s annual Global Summit in Malta.

“Great nations of the world will always be engaged in tough negotiations. It would be naive to pretend otherwise. It is downright destructive to blur the lines between these businesslike negotiations on issues like trade and the tourism sector, and yet there are some who have accepted and, worse yet, promoted the concept that boycotting a nation’s tourism sector is an acceptable response to negotiations in other sectors of the economy.

Adams concluded: “This is not diplomacy. This is not sportsmanship. This is not productive. It is wrong. It is malevolent, and it is unbecoming of any civilized nation.”

My response: there is absolutely nothing “businesslike” about threatening a close ally’s sovereignty and disingenuously painting them as a villain in the world’s largest trade relationship. 

Canadian visitation to the U.S. dropped 20.9% in 2025, costing the country billions. Adams says a tourism boycott “represents theft,” saying that it steals from waiters and taxi drivers and bankrupts bars, music venues and souvenir shops. 

Sadly, it does hurt those people, but it is not theft, no more than Canadian trade with the U.S., governed by negotiated and agreed rules, equates to us “treating the United States very badly,” as President Trump frequently argues.

The current situation is impacting Canadian travel advisors too. The business reality is that some clients are reconsidering their U.S. vacations, while others are continuing to travel south without hesitation. Advisors are navigating both conversations, respecting personal choices while helping people make informed decisions about where to spend their time and money.

Let’s make one thing clear: Canada isn’t boycotting travel to the United States. There is no coordinated national effort, no organized campaign telling Canadians not to go. This is happening one traveller at a time — a deeply personal choice about how to respond to what many Canadians feel is a betrayal by a longtime friend and neighbour. 

It’s like a family falling-out: you may choose not to invite an aunt or uncle to Christmas dinner, while your sibling still welcomes them at Thanksgiving. Everyone makes that decision for themselves.

It should be no surprise that anger, hurt and betrayal are the result when the leader of your biggest trade partner and long-time ally — whose citizens have fought beside your men and women in multiple conflicts for more than a century — questions your right to exist as a sovereign nation. 

“My message to anyone calling for tourism boycotts is simple: Cut the nonsense and start doing business,” Adams said. 

The response of many Canadians is equally simple: “Respect is earned.” 

Many of us are eager to travel to our favourite American cities, to world-class attractions, natural wonders and warm places to escape our winters. We want to visit relatives and friends we’ve made over repeat visits. 

Bottom line: The nonsense didn’t start on this side of the border, and the reluctance to travel south won’t change until there’s a marked shift in the tone of American leadership. I’m confident that will come in time.

For my part, I’m heading to Florida for a week’s holiday in November. One of the friends I’ll see there is a travel advisor I met on a fam in Germany. He’s a lifelong Republican who voted twice for the current White House occupant, though not without misgivings. 

But that’s not what we’ll talk about. Our friendship is about things more important than transient politics. Like the memory of getting on stage with an oom-pah band in Munich and dancing our fool heads off. Like sharing stories of our favourite concerts. Mostly it’s about two humans who like each other. In the years I have left, that’s where I want to put my focus.