well businesses at the Jersey Shore say they're bracing for a hit due to tensions between the US and Canada Hotels at beaches frequented by Canadian tourists say they're getting calls to cancel reservations and rooms that would normally be fully booked right now are sitting vacant So is it a blip or a bigger trend business owners should be worried about Raven Santana has the story from Wildwood Coast Elite Realy Joy speaking In the seven years that I've been doing this it's definitely the slowest year I've seen Jersey Shore rental manager Joy Kostas says properties that are normally in demand by Canadians who frequent the Wildwoods have experienced a steep decline She believes the decline may be linked to US immigration policies under the Trump administration and concerns over a potential trade war which have led many Canadians to cancel their travel plans ahead of the 2025 summer season We are seeing a major drop in Canadians um booking at this point I'm hoping that that changes but we've had we've had Canadians cancel We've had Canadians ask us if there's some sort of a problem between the countries and the borders close Um will you refund us if we can't travel to the vacation destination and of course we would that would not be a problem if god forbid something like that happened We don't anticipate that happening but some people are worried about it obviously or we would not be getting questions about whether or not we would issue those refunds We we're getting calls from Canadians saying they feel unwelcome They feel disrespected Uh they do not like the politics and most of them are most of them are saying they will see us in four years Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority Director Ben Rose says the anticipated decline in Canadian visitors may end up being greater than originally projected We don't know what the percentages of Canadian visitors that we're not going to get this year We're we were projecting a 3 to 5% uh loss of Canadian visitors this year We now think it may be higher than that Uh there are some reports out there from Adam Saxs of tourism economics reporting a 23 to 24% drop off in Canadian visitors So we have total 85 rooms here at the Canadian Uh roughly I have about 55 reservations coming from the Canadian market and so far this year we about got about half I mean we still got plenty of time for the rest to book Rental agents aren't the only ones down the shore preparing for a potential dip in Canadian tourism this summer Hotels and motel are feeling the impact too including the Royal Canadian Motel where property manager Antonio Catalo believes the decline is driven more by economic factors than political ones You mentioned the economy plays a big part in your bookings Have you put out any incentives or had to drop the price at all yes price we have dropped We do our like during the week to get people in through the door We do like specials We do price reduction to get them in Um prior years and people are saying "Hey you know that was 25% We losing our dollar."

I say "I was there anything we could do?"

We work with the Canadian We do work with the Canadian concerns You know the best deal we can do for them We understand they're losing and we want them to keep coming back But I don't think this tariff issue is causing them from not coming here Catalo's views are shared by Ben Rose who adds that the unfavorable exchange rate may also be contributing to the drop in Canadian tourism Well I I think the political situation is is one aspect of it but I think even more importantly is the exchange rate The exchange rate is not favorable right now What's the exchange rate do you know it i think it's at uh 60 cents on the dollar 60 63 cents on the dollar So it's uh not very favorable right now To help counter the decline and reassure Canadians that they're welcomed and appreciated in New Jersey Rose says the tourism authority has launched targeted marketing campaigns in Canada to highlight why a Jersey Shore vacation remains a great choice Free concerts three nights a week Uh free Friday night fireworks We have uh free events going on all summer long So we're really stressing the affordability Uh and we have over 8,000 hotel rooms and over 3,000 vacation rentals and they're all different prices so people can find something within their price range So we're looking at affordability and we're trying to really promote the fact the Wild Buds are an an affordable family vacation destination I think that's going to resonate even more than the political aspect of of what people are feeling right now in Canada Despite the cancellations business owners are hopeful that new reservations will come from new shore visitors and help make up for the shortfall Many remain confident that their loyal Canadian guests will be back next year if the political climate settles For NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana