Far fewer tourists from other countries are visiting California since Donald Trump took office again, and visits from Canada and Mexico are down particularly sharply, amidst immigration anxiety and tariff resentment.

As the Trump 2.0 term hits its “first 100 days” milestone, pollsters are inevitably wondering whether Americans feel better off than they did 100 days ago (Spoiler: They feel worse off!). The Chronicle uses the milestone to assess how California is in worse shape than it was 100 days ago, because of tariff chaos, wildfires and water issues, and enormous cuts in federal funding. And now KGO has a report that far fewer international tourists are visiting California in Trump’s first few months back in office, with particularly significant losses in visits from Canada and Mexico.

This is probably why we saw Gavin Newsom pleading with Canadian tourists to come to California a couple weeks back.  

The state tourism agency Visit California has the numbers, showing the declines in California tourism from other nations in the months of February and March. So it’s just a two-month sample size, but the drop is pretty significant. Canadian tourism to California is down 15.5% compared to those same two months in 2024, tourism from Mexico is down 24.2%, and UK tourism is down 22.1%.  

Yes, a couple countries had slight increases in tourists visiting California (China, Japan, India). But those small gains are nowhere near enough to offset the losses from Canada, Mexico, and the UK.

Bigger picture, though, we see that only 6% of California’s tourists are international tourists. But that’s misleading, as further down the same report, it’s noted that those 6% are responsible for an outsized 17% of all tourism spending in the state. But there’s just less of that spending happening, and it’s not all because of Trump.

"First you have the loonie [Canadian dollar] was at its weakest at the end of November, then you have the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, and then you have all this tension, the trade tariff tension," Toronto-based Flight Centre Travel Group spokesperson Amra Durakovic told KGO.

So international tourism is looking shaky this year, but there could be an even bigger problem looming for the state’s tourism industry. The May 7 Real ID deadline for boarding domestic flights is looming next week, and those requests for updated forms of ID have DMV offices backlogged.

Theoretically, those without a passport will no longer be able to get through airport security unless they have a Real ID, and will therefore be barred from flying even domestically.

We'll see how this pans out next week.  

Related: Gavin Newsom Woos Trump-Hating Canadians To Come Visit California in New Ad Campaign [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 12, 2018: An American flag flies at Pier 39, a shopping and restaurant center and tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)