News
At the end of each month’s market trends update from our business intelligence team is typically a section about what they’re keeping an eye on. A few months ago, a trend emerged that has become a hot topic in recent weeks. Let’s quickly review how that trend unfolded through the lens of these updates and what Tom Foley, the head of our business intelligence division, and his team are suggesting resorts, hotels, and destinations might consider in response.
In March 2025, as threats of tariffs escalated and bookings from Canada first started to decline, Tom suggested that Canada may just be the first of many.
“Dependence on Canadian travelers varies by destination with many in the Northeast drive markets highly dependent on our northern neighbors while other regions have little or no dependence on them. However, the trend may be indicative of other international inbound markets so we’re monitoring both Europe and Mexico for similar patterns as these visitors travel to many US regions and resorts,”
It didn’t take long for that question to get answered.
The following month showed declines in Canada, but other areas as well.
“Bookings from Canada and Western Europe continued to drop sharply for the summer but Mexico is looking strong. According to Inntopia’s booking data, the declines are deepening on a weekly basis and as of May 6, summer arrivals from Canada are down 45.5 percent compared to this time last year as Canadians have had a strong negative response to US trade policy and political commentary. Travelers from Western Europe are also pulling back with summer bookings down 30.3 percent.”
Tom also pointed out that European visitors typically go to larger, pure destination markets so declines from this group are more widespread but perhaps less locally concerning than the negative impact of the Canadian downturn.
Mexico’s resilience to these declines only lasted until our business intelligence team’s next update.
“Bookings from Canada are now down 55.5 percent while western Europe is down 35.5 percent. And for the first time in months, there is a decline from Mexico—down 5.4 percent.”
Interestingly, this updated also pointed out that domestic bookings were up just 1.7 percent and the overall booking pace during May for the full summer was down 7.1 percent.
How should hotels, resorts, and destinations respond? Tom mentioned in May that traveler behavior domestically might create an opportunity to keep occupancy high despite these declines in international travel.
“As Canadians and Europeans step back in a big way, there is an opportunity to capture more domestic visitors who have indicated they are scaling back international travel plans. But until financial stability returns and consumer confidence rises, it is likely to be an interesting, and potentially challenging summer for mountain destinations”
Don’t want to miss our business intelligence team’s July update next week? Follow us on LinkedIn. Until then, you can read more of our monthly market, performance, and trend updates at the link below:
https://corp.inntopia.com/category/trends/
