Canada-U.S. relations are under strain as the escalating trade war and political rhetoric have kept many Canadians away from traveling to the USA.
But in Florida, one motel owner has managed to bring some visitors back - and he's Canadian himself.
For decades, Canadians traveled to Florida for vacation by the millions - trading snow for the sun. But when the tariffs hit and U.S.-Canada tensions rose, Richard Clavet's phone stopped ringing.
"We had like a huge drop, a huge drop. A lot of people were canceling or just not booking," said Richard Clavet, owner of Richard's Motel.
Clavet was born in Quebec, Canada. He rode a bicycle to Florida at age 19 and never went back. Today, he still lives in the state and runs seven properties with 40 employees - a business built largely on Canadian guests.
Data from Statistics Canada shows that Canadian travel to the U.S. fell 25 percent in 2025. It was the steepest and continuous non-pandemic travel decline on record.
So states began to lure Canadian travelers back to the U.S. New York State launched an "NY Loves Canada" campaign. In Nevada, Las Vegas hotels started the "At Par" exchange rate promotion for Canadian visitors.
Clavet's campaign was smaller - just him, a laptop, and a comments section full of angry Canadians.
"Every time I was posting something, you had so many people coming and saying negative stuff about coming to the U.S. And I was staying up all night and arguing back with all those people," he said.
Then he tried something simple. Every Friday night, he would set up tables, cook for whoever showed up and post the photos of Canadians in Florida, enjoying themselves.
And then, the motel bookings came back - slowly at first, then all at once.
"In Florida, the numbers were down by 20 percent. My number was up by five percent. Throughout the summer, where it's typically dead with Canadian business, because of all the efforts that I was doing to promote the business, we were renting every day. And as I was telling you a little earlier, we collected 45,000 U.S. dollars worth of deposit in July alone," Clavet said.
Tariffs are still a fight between two governments. Down here, it's businesses like this one deciding the outcome - one Canadian traveler at a time.
Canadian motel owner lures compatriots back to Florida amid US trade tensions
