Blue Jays fans keeping Dunedin economy afloat during turbulent times for tourism

The Toronto Blue Jays are training in Dunedin, Fla., where local businesses welcome fans despite fewer Canadians travelling south.

The Toronto Blue Jays have made Dunedin, Fla., into a virtual oasis during turbulent economic times in Florida.

Canadians’ broad grassroots boycott of the United States has had a massive impact on the tourism industry, especially in states like Florida. Dunedin, which is the home of the Blue Jays’ spring training facility and its single-A minor league team, seems to be have spared thanks to the loyalty of Canadian baseball fans.

“We’re in this kind of special bubble. It’s a special place. It really is a special place,” said Mayor Maureen Freaney. “We have so many spokes on the wheel of why we’re special, like the arts, our history and the Orange Belt Railway and the museum in the old train station.

“But one of the biggest spokes we have is the Toronto Blue Jays. You can’t imagine Dunedin without the Blue Jays, and you can’t imagine Dunedin without our Canadians.”

The broad boycott began in February 2024 after U.S President Donald Trump made several comments describing Canada as a 51st state, suggested that his country should annex its northern neighbour, and started applying sweeping tariffs to Canadian goods, resulting in counter-tariffs from the Canadian government.

StatsCanada said in December 2025 that Canadian residents returned from 2.2 million trips to the U.S., a 25 per cent decrease from the same month in 2024.

An access to information and privacy request made by The Canadian Press to the Canadian Border Services Agency in late December showed a decline in cross-border travel at land crossings on days when the Blue Jays visited the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners in 2025 compared to 2024, 2023, 2016 and 2015.

The same ATIP request found that cross-border travel at land crossings on home game days for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks also declined in 2025.

Freaney said she understands why Canadians are taking their vacations elsewhere, noting that “no one wants to be insulted.” She also said that after making an appearance on a Canadian news program in January, she had a resident of Montreal email her.

“She said, ‘I’ve kind of been depressed about this. We don’t hear good things from down south of us and I saw your positive spirit, and all the signs for the Blue Jays in Dunedin,’” recalled Freaney. “It just it gave me hope. It made me feel so good, and it made my day. That’s why I love being mayor.”

Between amusement parks like Disney World and Universal Studios, various sporting events, and of course the warmer weather in the winter months, Florida has long been a preferred destination for vacationing Canadians.

However, Visit St. Petes-Clearwater, the tourism agency for Pinellas County on the west side of Tampa Bay, reports that about 2.1 per cent of its visitors in 2025 originated from Canada, compared to 3 per cent the previous fiscal year. A spokesman noted that two severe tropical storms in 2025 also had a negative affect on tourism in the area.

Dunedin was the only location in Pinellas County that achieved month-over-month increase in visitation all of 2025.

Only three of the 14 municipalities in the county saw an increase in tourism development tax collections from 2024 to 2025: Dunedin (9.6 per cent), adjoining Clearwater/Clearwater Beach (6.7 per cent) and St. Petersburg (2.2 per cent).

“What makes our economy a little different than the rest of even our county is that we get Canadians that come here and stay here for six weeks or so,” said Janette Donoghue, the chief executive officer of Dunedin’s Chamber of Commerce. “I know a lot of these mom and pop stores, probably 80 per cent of our downtown, is small business.

“They really rely on these months of spring training and spring break and those months are very crucial to our economy here.”

Florida requires all of its cities to have an outside agency do an economic impact analysis every year. Dunedin’s 2025 report found that tourism had a $200 million annual impact on the local economy and created 1,600 jobs in the city of 37,000 people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press