New Hampshire Tourism Hit Hard by 30% Drop in Canadian Visitors

The Nutmeg Inn in Meredith, New Hampshire, is like a microcosm of cultures. In any given year, guests at the inn would likely meet visitors to the state from across the nation and around the world, especially Canada. 

Last year, however, innkeepers Kevin and Karen LaSella saw a dramatic drop in Canadian guests. During the summer of 2025, the LaSellas say they welcomed only one Canadian couple to the inn all season long. They fear that the recent tensions in U.S.-Canada relations and with other countries, marked by fluctuating tariffs and at times volatile political rhetoric, will compromise the future of small business hospitality businesses like theirs throughout New Hampshire.

“We can weather the storm of last year, so to speak,” Kevin said in a statement shared with New Hampshire Public Radio. “But when you're getting hit on both sides, you're getting hit because of the geopolitical rhetoric, and it hits your revenue by 15%, and then on the expense side of the business you get squeezed. . . . That's a progressively less profitable, or potentially not profitable at all, business.”

Tourism is a cornerstone of New Hampshire's economy, and officials warn that the decline in Canadian visitors signals broader regional impacts with volatility likely as cross-border perceptions and policies remain unsettled.

According to Taylor Caswell, who was serving as commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) as of August 2025, Canadian tourism to New Hampshire was down 30% from the previous year. Vacation spots that have traditionally attracted substantial numbers of Canadian tourists, such as the Seacoast and White Mountains regions, have been hit hardest.

To cope with the international tourism downturn, nurturing the domestic tourism market is becoming increasingly important, said Caswell.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Business and Economic Affairs turned to southern New England and southern New Hampshire to advertise tourist attractions in northern portions of the state, he said. While Caswell was serving the BEA last summer, the department had been trying to fill the gap left by declining Canadian visitation with domestic visitors, he said.

“The damage of the situation is going to be one that's going to be with us for a while,” Caswell said.