Why Niagara Falls is seeing U.S. tourism bounce back during tariff war

Tensions from the tariff war might be starting to cool off according to the number of American visitors to Canada’s Niagara Region.

It was a warm, summer’s day at Niagara Falls for its annual Fourth of July festivities, which include fireworks, live musical performances and bars and restaurants staying open late. But within the hordes of tourists that had made their way to one of Canada’s primary tourist attractions, only a few people within each cluster could be seen donning the stars and stripes.

Instead, there were visibly a lot more people wearing the red and white in support of Canada’s World Cup match against Morocco -- a sign of the surge of nationalism and reflection of the tension between the U.S. and Canada since Washington, D.C. decided to impose tariffs on Canadian goods last year, according to local residents.

“The past year, past couple of years, the celebration there haven’t been as... celebrated on this side of the border as maybe previous years,” said Jazil Sheikh, who has been living in the Niagara region for more than five years.

“I do remember the first year that we moved, the celebrations were much more celebrated here. This year, in the past year... I feel like they’ve just been a little less celebrated on this side.”

“It’s declining. I remember when we recently moved... a lot of people with the American flags here and celebrating side by side like friendly neighbors. But now they do their side,” said Sheikh’s father, Abdul Munam.

“In my opinion, one of the reasons for the trade issues right now, people are really concerned about their businesses.”

Despite the anecdotal evidence of Canadian colours overpowering the American aesthetic on this U.S. Independence Day Saturday -- Niagara tourism groups say their American tourism numbers have actually improved compared to last year.

“Last year there was a bit of a dip in U.S. traffic coming over,” said Adam Stiles, interim President and CEO of Niagara Falls Tourism. “What we have been seeing this year, stronger numbers of those border crossings and just talking sort of anecdotally with some of the hotel partners around here, bookings are strong and they have been over the last couple of American holidays.”

Statistics Canada data for May 2026 shows U.S. residents made approximately 1.3 million trips to Canada, rising 4.4 per cent from the same month in 2025 -- signalling the third year-over-year increase -- after experiencing a downward trend that begna in February of last year.

“I think people realize that they’re still going to have that safe and well rounded experience when they come over here, and they’re going to feel welcome,” added Stiles.

David Adames with Niagara Parks Commission says American tourism numbers for his region were down three per cent in 2025, chalking it up to the animosity between the two countries fading -- despite the tariffs still being in effect.

“We’ve seen an increase in American visitation and American spend,” said Adames in an interview with CTV News Saturday, comparing May of 2026 to May of last year. “So for Niagara Parks, even in the month of May, we had an increase of 25 per cent in transactions with our U.S visitors, which resulted in an increase in 30 percent of revenue.”

Adames adds that those numbers increased in June -- and they’re anticipating seeing an increase for Fourth of July festivities this year compared to last.

“And we saw a further increase in June. We can see many Americans here as well as are anticipating having an increase once again this year over July 4th of last year.

“I think things have normalized again from those relations that the tension that was there a year ago, it was the tensions were running higher in 2025 than it’s certainly running now,” he added.

While Americans visiting the region, like Joe Capri from Philadelphia, say they’ve noticed a lack of Americans celebrating Independence Day at the Falls.

“I thought it would be a little bit more American spirit,” said Capri in an interview with CTV News. “I would... expect more right here, this close to the border. There’s a little bit of jesting here and there. I got a couple of head nods and shakes, but everyone’s very welcoming and it’s cool to be in a country that’s so welcoming of everybody else. It’s been good. No complaints.”

“I would hope to see us be friendly allies and neighbors. I have no animosity towards the Canadians. They’ve always been welcoming and hopefully, we continue to trade with them.”