“It’s almost a three-headed monster right now of rhetoric around Canadian sovereignty, yo-yoing on tariff levels and then the widening gap of the conversion rate,” said Corey Fram, director at the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council. “It’s really teaming up to drive down Canadian visitations to the U.S. side.”

Traffic across some major border crossings in tourism states such as New York, have dropped by 12 per cent in the two first weeks of February alone, said Mr. Fram. He cited data provided to him by the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association for border crossings on the Thousand Islands Bridge between Alexandria Bay, N.Y., and southeastern Ontario.

Statistics Canada data also show that Canadian automobile trips to the U.S. are plummeting. About 1.2 million return trips were made into Canada by Canadians in February – a 23-per-cent drop from that period a year ago.