Op-Ed: Travel Should Build Bridges, Not Burn Them Across Borders

Travel should build bridges, not burn them.

I am a Canadian Travel Agent with You Do You Travel, A proud partner with The Travel Agent Next Door. Last week I was in Jamaica with Jamaica Cruising as a Regal Award winner, an award recognizing the top travel advisors who brought the most cruise passengers into Jamaica’s ports. 

There are 10 of us here being recognized — the top five winners from 2024 and the top five winners from 2025. I’m the only Canadian. The other nine are Americans. And I can honestly say they are some of the best people I have ever met.

And that matters to what I want to say.

I know there are conversations happening in Canada right now encouraging Canadian travel advisors not to sell the United States because of what is happening politically between our two countries.

I respect everybody’s right to their own political views.

If you want to travel to the U.S., travel to the U.S. If you don’t want to, don’t. If you want to sell the U.S., sell it. If you don’t want to, don’t.

But trying to make other travel advisors feel like they are somehow less Canadian or less loyal to their country because they continue to sell the United States is ridiculous.

I don’t dictate my political views to my clients, and I don’t expect other people to share mine. I also refuse to let the actions or words of one person put hate in my heart for an entire country and its people.

Because if we start digging deep enough into the politics of every country and decide we won’t sell somewhere because we disagree with something its government has done, what exactly are we going to have left to sell?

And yes, I am Canadian and incredibly proud to be Canadian.

Quite frankly, anybody living in Canada who seriously thinks Lake Ontario should be called Lake America might want to reconsider which citizenship they’re defending. I will help you pack and take you to the airport. 

But that’s exactly my point. I can strongly disagree with something happening politically without deciding that millions of Americans are now my enemy.

I’m also not going to do anything that could hurt the industry I love.

Canadian travel advisors worked incredibly hard to survive COVID. Some are doing incredibly well today. Others are still rebuilding their businesses, and some are simply trying to survive while they build. 

I watched how quickly this industry was devastated during COVID, and I haven’t forgotten that.

Canada represents only a small share of global travel sales. Our footprint in the industry isn’t as large as other regions. If we damage our own industry, we weaken our own influence.

I believe there are more productive ways to use our voice than turning on each other or dictating what another advisor should or shouldn’t sell.

Right now, I’m in Jamaica surrounded by American travel advisors who aren’t politicians. 

They’re people.

They’re colleagues.

They’re friends.

And they’re some pretty incredible human beings.

Travel has always been about connecting with people, learning from one another, and realizing that people are so much more than the governments that happen to represent them.

That’s the travel industry I believe in.