The number of Canadians visiting Philadelphia is down sharply this year, reversing years of growth for international city tourism coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
City officials expect international tourism to Philadelphia to be down nearly 10% in 2025, led largely by a projected 17.75% drop in Canadian visitors. Canadians make up about 40% of international tourism to Philadelphia, annually.
The shift comes amid President Donald Trump’s international trade war, which has led to tariffs and strong rhetoric targeting longtime allies like Canada. Philadelphia tourism officials say visa fees are changing, and the perception of the U.S. is shifting. International travelers are reacting to it.
“One [reason] is just the global perception of what it feels like to be a traveler, an international traveler, in the United States today,” said Svetlana Yazovskikh, vice president of global tourism at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. “There’s concerns about border crossing and that experience. There’s concerns about being safe on the ground, and a lot of it is not necessarily meeting reality.”
Yazovskikh said the city had experienced steady growth in international tourism since the start of the pandemic, which disrupted systems worldwide, but things began to change in March. A series of tariffs against Canada went into effect March 4.
The shift dovetails with tourism drops occurring nationally. Data from Tourism Economics, an international economic forecasting firm, show that international travel to the U.S. from Canada is down more than 25% across the U.S. in 2025.
Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Trump policies are to blame.
“I think because of the Trump administration’s conduct on immigration, we’ve already seen tourism dip, not just in Philadelphia, but all across this country,” he said at a news conference at Cobb Creek Golf Club. “Their policies are making it so people in other countries are afraid to come here or don’t want to come here.”
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau released an ad campaign featuring prominent Canadian Philadelphia residents encouraging people from Canada to visit the city.
Overseas travel less affected
The ding to Canadian tourism has been felt elsewhere locally. At the Jersey Shore this summer, longtime patrons noted fewer families came down from the north.
Without naming the Trump administration, Tourism Economics noted that global policy shifts beginning in February appear to be having significant impact.
“Paired with harsh rhetoric, these concerns have contributed to unpredictability and negative global travel sentiment toward the U.S.,” the firm wrote in an August report.
Yazovskikh said that through July, travel from Europe and other parts of the world had not been as affected. She said travel from Europe was projected to be down 2.9%, year over year. Additionally, travel from India is projected to rise by nearly 7%.
“Despite all of the political rhetoric, despite [the] economic complications of traveling to the United States right now … it is still a market that is very resilient, very interested in coming to the United States, very interested in coming to Philadelphia.”
Airport data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection also show a potential bright spot in August. International travel through Philadelphia International Airport rose more than 11% in August compared to 2024.
It’s unclear what may have led to the spike — city tourism data is current through July.
The data show international travel dropped through most of the year until August before beginning to decline again at the beginning of September.
Trump has not commented recently on the shifts in tourism. In April, when asked by reporters, he said he wasn’t worried about changes in tourism that were already occurring.
“There’s a little nationalism there, I guess, perhaps. It’s not a big deal,” he said.
The year ahead
Looking forward, Yazovskikh said she was concerned about the potential impact of the U.S. visa integrity fee, a $250 refundable deposit that will be required on many nonimmigrant visas starting Oct. 1.
Passed as part of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, the fee is designed to act as a sort of security deposit and could be refunded if a traveler complies with visa terms. It is scheduled to begin in October.
Some countries would be exempted under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Other countries, like Canada, are not on the waiver list. For travelers from those countries, it will be an additional fee they need to plan for.
“So if you’re a family of four, right? All of a sudden, there’s another $1,000 you need to pay in order to even be able to enter the United States,” she said.
Yazovskikh said the city is hopeful 2026 can be a return to growth, with Philadelphia expected to play a major role in events like the FIFA World Cup and the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“We’re talking about 2026 being the year of celebration of Philadelphia,” she said.