Did the At-Par Promotion Success Signal the Return of Canadians

I was interested to see that 15,000 Canadians took advantage of the at-par exchange rate at Circa, the D, and Golden Gate in the first month of the promotion, which you covered in a recent QoD. Do you think that's the beginning of a trend of Canadians starting to trickle back to Vegas?

Short answer: No. That's not just our opinion. It's also that of several Canadian friends and subscribers we consulted for this answer.

What follows aren't LVA's words. These are direct quotes from actual Canadians. Here at QoD Central, we aim to inform our members by answering their questions. The question has been asked and we're providing the answers, verbatim, from our neighbors to the north.

Right up front, we'll say that we weren't interested in writing about the political reasons for the Canadian boycott of the U.S. We all know what they are and we're not, by any means, claiming that they're irrelevant; we're just heading off all the invective, vituperation, and calumniating. If any of it enters the comments, it will be deleted.

First, the numbers. Canadians taking road trips into the U.S. — the most common way of visiting — dropped by 15% in February compared to February 2025 and was down 32% for the first two months of the year. There was also an 18% year-over-year decline in air travelers from Canada to the U.S. in February.

Meanwhile, Canadian visits to other countries were up 7.2% year over year. So Canadians are traveling, as they're wont to do, just not to the U.S. From the other side of the border, Americans visiting Canada in February were up 6% compared to a year ago.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of Canadian travelers have canceled a previously planned trip to the U.S., according to a Longwoods International tracking study of Canadian travelers.

Now, Canadians of our acquaintance cited the following rationales for the boycott.

One focused on history. To wit:

"The U.S. was three years late getting into WW I and two years late getting getting into WW II. Canadians were there, dying in Europe, and afterwards in Korea, the first Gulf War, and Afghanistan. Canadians also gave literal shelter to American Embassy staff in 1979 in Iran and provided them with genuine Canadian identity documents to smuggle them back to freedom. Canadians continuously supply genuine Canadian documents to the CIA and its operatives for covert purposes and we continuously provide back channels to facilitate communication with countries that the U.S. doesn't have official diplomatic relationships with.

"The boycott also extends to U.S. products. We now see produce in our supermarkets from countries I've never seen before. Like South Africa."

A Canadian world traveler we've known for decades told us that he'll never return to the U.S., where he has family and many friends, due to his treatment the last time he crossed the border. He was detained for more than an hour, as an immigration official pored over his passport, which had stamps from upwards of 50 countries. Our friend had no idea what they were looking for or suspicious of, but he was certain he was being treated as a suspect, possibly even facing a longer detention. Only when a supervisor accosted the official over the long backup of international entries was our friend passed through. He said, "I'm rarely treated like that crossing borders, not even going into communist and Middle Eastern countries. That's it for me. I don't need to go to the U.S.

"Besides," he added, "the exchange rate sucks and everything is more expensive in the U.S. to begin with."

A third Canadian told us she feels the U.S. is unsafe for travel, particularly due to high rates of gun violence. She said that Canada's official travel advisory for the U.S. has highlighted this issue ever since she can remember (she's 42) and it was updated late last year to reiterate warnings about firearm-related risks in public spaces.

Canadians, of course, aren't alone. International travel to the U.S. dropped 6% last year and so far this year is down nearly 8%. The U.S. is the only major country in the world to experience a decline in international tourism, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

So there's the macro-view. We'll put a bow on it by saying that regardless of which country we're talking about, economics will always be a powerful factor, and Las Vegas' prices as a whole are still off-putting to many longtime visitors. Add to that the aforementioned exchange-rate disparity, and a back-to-normal stance with Canadadian visitation appears to us to be quite a ways away.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Comments

vince dantoni Mar-27-2026

Canadians

they are cheap and  lousy tippers.

Joseph Mar-27-2026

Vegas Rip Off

I’m just going to ignore the ignorant comment from Vince. As a Canadian who loves the US and Vegas, I have no problem crossing the border. I have a Nexus card, and do not get the third degree when crossing. The big problem is that there are very few incentives from casinos in Vegas, except the one mentioned above. Vegas has become a gouge job for everyone, not just Canadians. That deal mentioned above doesn't cover the gouge. One deal that does though is through Caesars Air. I get a free flight and hotel from Bellingham, Washington to Laughlin monthly. That makes up for the dreadful video poker, except the deuces game at the Tropicana. In the past year, Caesars has paid for four trips there and I’ve hit four $4000 royals. So they’re paying me to come and take their money. I don’t particularly like the withholding tax, but I get it back every year. There’s only one person in the US I don’t like, but Americans are good by me.

Bob Nelson Mar-27-2026

What’s up with the QOD link?

April 7th?  Did I time travel?

Bob Nelson Mar-27-2026

Canada

Hopefully your friend’s treatment at the border is an outlier.  Living in a border state I have traveled into Canada dozens of times for work and pleasure.  A couple of trips for business I got similar treatment going into Canada by air.  I wrote it off to someone either having a bad day or personally trying to “save” their country/jobs from “invaders”.  Hopefully this hasn’t become the norm as we’ve always had good relations with our northern neighbors.

O2bnVegas Mar-27-2026

My sister

My sister lives in Canada, has dual citizenship with the US.  She travels fairly frequently into the US and and back for family events, often on a moment's notice.  She hasn't experienced problems described, that I know of.

Candy

grouch Mar-27-2026

words

how did you find these words to use  invective, vituperation, and calumniating i had to look them up. who ever finds these type of words to use i take my hat off too

Robert Mar-27-2026

Greetings from the US

To our neighbors to the north, we miss you! Rest assured that the majority of us are, like you, just waiting for this to be over.

Hoppy Mar-27-2026

Circa is . . .

The 11th Province!!
Donzack Mar-27-2026

Statehood

They should become a state.

Hoppy Mar-27-2026

Re: Donzack

Circa hotel and casino become the 51st State. Stadium Swim becomes the 11th Province. Or, the other way around.

Tim Clark Mar-30-2026

no tipping

Heh Vince I guess you have never heard about what the difference between a Canadian and a canoe? A canoe tips HAHAHA Tipping is just getting out of hand everywhere.

Question of the Day - 27 March 2026

Comments