Summer time journey may even see fewer worldwide vacationers touchdown in Southern California – Orange County Register

International vacationers — notably from Canada — aren’t coming in droves this 12 months to Southern California’s tourism hotspots.

In reality, new data released by Statistics Canada discovered that Canadians are largely persevering with to keep away from journey to the U.S. amid rising tensions with President Donald Trump.

Travelers have cited Trump’s lofty tariffs aimed toward Canada and his recommendations that the nation turn out to be the 51st U.S. state, prompting many Canadians to boycott excursions south of the border.

In February 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2 million journeys to the U.S., representing a 12.5% decline from the identical month a 12 months in the past and marking the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year decline, in line with Statistics Canada.

More broadly, complete worldwide visits to the U.S. final 12 months dropped by 5.5% in contrast with 2024, in line with the World Travel & Tourism Council’s latest economic impact research.

Local airports are also seeing the trickle down results of fewer worldwide vacationers — with the exception being Ontario International Airport, which has seen a surge in visitors from Mexico and Asia. The airport boosted service to Mexico and added new flights by Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines. In 2025, the airport noticed 567,000 worldwide passengers, a 29.2% improve over 2024’s 438,900 passengers.

Meanwhile, the depend of worldwide vacationers continued to plummet at noise and flight-restricted John Wayne Airport.

In 2025, JWA reported 297,300 worldwide passengers, down 16.5% from 356,100 travelers out and in of the Santa Ana airport from the earlier 12 months. For the first three months of 2026, worldwide passenger site visitors fell 23% to 57,476 vacationers, in contrast with 74,907 in the identical year-earlier interval.

“Fluctuations in international passenger volumes at John Wayne Airport and across the aviation industry reflect broader airline network decisions and market dynamics rather than any single factor,” mentioned airport spokeswoman AnnaSophia Servin. “Changes in airline schedules, aircraft availability, and evolving travel demand contributed to the year-over-year decrease. We have not seen data indicating that sentiment alone is driving these changes.”

Los Angeles International Airport counted 23.6 million worldwide passengers in 2025, down 1.62% from 2024’s 23.9 million. Traffic has continued to fall from abroad in the first three months for LAX, off half a % to five.4 million passengers versus the 5.37 million a 12 months in the past.

In 2025, Canadian vacationers headed to LAX fell 17.2% — and within the first 5 months of this 12 months the airport is anticipated to be down one other 9%, in line with an announcement offered to the Southern California News Group by LAX officers.

More lately, as a result of Iran War, “subsequent uncertainty” has resulted in a decline in worldwide journey, with the airport at the moment down over 300,000 seats internationally this spring.

“Some international service adjustments—such as those announced by Norse Atlantic Airways — are reflective of airline-specific business models, particularly for ultra-low-cost carriers where higher fuel costs are more difficult to absorb,” LAX mentioned in its assertion. These modifications signify a really small share of LAX’s general worldwide departures, the LAX officers mentioned.

In April, Norse cancelled all summer time 2026 flights between LAX and Europe, citing unsustainable gas prices pushed by the Middle East battle.

Looking forward, worldwide traits fluctuate by area, in line with LAX. European site visitors this summer time stays softer, whereas Asia is displaying a stronger outlook with roughly 2% development.