Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken aim at Ontario Premier Doug Ford for his planned Florida boycott, saying tourism to the sunshine state is up and pointing out its NHL teams have won trophies more recently than Toronto’s.
Ford said on Monday he wouldn’t be taking his regular winter vacation to Florida because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have led to major layoffs in Ontario’s auto and steel sectors.
Speaking at an unrelated event, Ford said he was planning to boycott the state — but said he wouldn’t tell others to stay away.
“It’s going to be the first time I’m not going to Florida,” the premier said. “But I talk to so many people, don’t let this guy, Trump, determine and ruin your life and everything. That’s my personal choice.”
DeSantis responded to a clip of the premier’s comments with a screengrab of a news release from the summer, showing tourism is up.
“Actually we continue to break tourism records (and win Stanley Cups),” he wrote.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967, while the Florida Panthers won back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025.
Data from Visit Florida shows that in 2024, before Trump was elected, 3.4 million Canadians visited the state — the largest cohort of international visitors. On average, that meant 851,250 visitors each quarter from Canada.
The data cited by DeSantis suggested a drop-off of Canadians, although tourism overall was up. A news release said 640,000 (or 1.9 per cent of visitors) in the second quarter of 2025 were from Canada.
“Domestic travelers accounted for 91.5 per cent of total visitation, with 31.5 million Americans visiting the state,” the tourism body said. “Overseas visitation rose by 11.4 per cent over the year to reach 2.3 million, with an additional 640,000 Canadian visitors visiting Florida.”
A recent report from the U.S. Congress’s Joint Economic Committee found a drop in Canadian visitors was hurting businesses in the United States.
The report said “the negative impacts of President (Donald) Trump’s tariff policies have been particularly stark in states along the U.S.-Canada border, which have many businesses that rely on short-term visits by Canadians.”
Canadian air passenger traffic also dropped in October, the ninth consecutive month in which it has fallen.
Data from Statistics Canada showed total Canadian air passenger traffic in October was up by 4.5 per cent to five million travellers from the same time last year, but the number of people on U.S.-bound trips is down 8.9 per cent to 1.2 million travellers.
The U.S. Travel Association estimates international tourism spending in the U.S. will fall by 3.2 per cent this year and attributes Canadians boycotting the U.S. as the “primary driver” for the US$5.7-billion loss.
On Monday, Ford said he wanted to see people stay in Canada if they could, but didn’t endorse the boycott.
“Maybe some families have gone to Florida their whole lives, go to Florida. That’s great,” he said. “But I encourage you to stay here and support local tourism. But you can’t let the one tyrant change your lives.”
— with files from Global News’ Rebecca Lau and The Canadian Press
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