Canada Connect East kicks off with 35 U.S. partners in Toronto

Although many Canadians are currently pressing pause on vacation plans to the United States, a strong showing of 35 U.S. partners were on location in Toronto yesterday to demonstrate their commitment to the Canadian market, typically one of the destination’s top international markets.

Known as Canada Connect East 2025, the second annual Brand USA event is designed for travel advisors and tour operators to connect with partners representing cities and states across the United States.

“I had the pleasure of joining for the inaugural session last year and am really glad to see such a terrific turnout this year. On behalf of the entire U.S. Consulate General here in Toronto, I want to thank everyone here in this room for the work that you do to support travel and tourism to the U.S. – we really appreciate your contributions to this important industry,” shared Baxter Hunt, U.S. Consul General in Toronto, kicking off the Toronto event. “This is also, as you all know very well, a challenging time for U.S.-Canada relations, and that, of course, makes your job a little more challenging in promoting Canadian tourism to the United States and that’s why your trade mission here is so important this week.”

Perennially, Hunt shared that Canadian tourists represent the largest source of tourism revenues for the destination.

“You are all on the frontlines and understand better than anyone that a significant decline in Canadian overnight stays in the U.S. would mean billions of dollars in lost revenue,” Hunt shared. “But it’s not just about money and jobs. When Canadians travel to the United States, they are also deepening the people-to-people ties between our countries.”

He noted that one major sporting event that is bound to bring a lot of travellers across the border is the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Notably, Hunt highlighted some of the efforts that have been made by U.S. destinations to prioritize Canadian travellers ranging from Detroit’s Love Letter to Canadians to Hawaiian resorts offering Canadians a 25 per cent discount. Another example was the recent pitch from California Governor Gavin Newsom for Canadians to come and experience their California Love stating, while “you-know-who is trying to stir things up back in D.C., don’t let that ruin your beach plans.”

Even though many partners acknowledged that it’s a challenging time to be promoting U.S. travel to Canadians, there was also a sense of optimism among representatives that Canadian travellers would be crossing the border again soon.

“The reason we’re here, is because we want you there!” noted Tamer Attia, senior international tourism development manager for Visit San Antonio, as the one-on-one meetings got underway.

“We’re excited to be at Canada Connect with our Canadian tourism partners and sharing the latest from San Francisco,” Radu Barbuceanu, director, Global Tourism Development of San Francisco Travel Association told PressToday. “Canada remains one of our most important international markets, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to remind Canadian travellers that San Francisco is a vibrant, welcoming and inclusive city—ready to greet them whenever they’re ready to visit.”

After wrapping up in Toronto today, the show then heads to Montreal on May 1. Meanwhile, Canada Connect West is also slated to take place May 20-23 in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Gearing up as the host destination for the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW 2025 conference, Choose Chicago’s Oscar Vela, manager, tourism and global development, shared that the Canadian market is very important, and added that discussions are underway to figure out strategies to attract Canadians despite the ongoing tensions and a weak loonie.

“For us, it’s very important as you’ve always been our No. 1 market,” Vela said. “You are really our neighbours, our friends.”

Unfortunately, Casey Canevari, who is usually a fixture at Brand USA events as the director of Global Trade Development for Canada, suffered a medical emergency this week and will no longer be participating in the rest of the mission. Our thoughts are with him, and we hope that he recovers quickly.