Manitoba traffic down at Emerson-Pembina border, U.S. tourism officials nervous By: Tyler Searle Posted: 4:30 PM CDT Monday, Apr. 7, 2025 Last Modified: 9:26 PM CDT Monday, Apr. 7, 2025 Updates

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Tourism leaders in North Dakota have a close eye on the Canada-U.S. border, as they brace for the likelihood of fewer Manitoba visitors this year.

Data collected by U.S. border officials suggests the number of people using the Pembina-Emerson land crossing was down 17 per cent during the first two months of 2025, compared to the same period last year.

Data for March is not yet available, but the early slump has placed Charley Johnson, president and CEO of Visit Fargo-Moorhead, on alert as he and others lobby Congress for support.

“We think it’s going to be an issue, and I don’t know that there is anything we can do about it, except tell people that we still welcome Canadians here in North Dakota and Minnesota and we hope that they can find their way here sometime again soon,” Johnson told the Free Press.

Johnson travelled to Washington, D.C., last week to share tourism concerns with a congressional delegation. He was joined by about 400 other people from across the U.S., he said.

“Obviously, these things were a big topic of discussion,” he said. “That’s kind of the message we delivered, that we just feel like Canadians are not particularly happy with us and probably aren’t going to be coming down and spending money with us in the near future.”

Visit Fargo-Moorhead, which is funded by a lodging tax paid for by visitors who stay in area hotels, has fielded calls from local businesses reporting fewer Canadian licence plates in their parking lots, Johnson said.

“It’s not a count, but it’s a pretty (bad) sign,” he said. “We’re anticipating a definite reduction in Canadian visits.”

His organization has launched a survey to collect more data on tourism traffic, and determine its impact, he said.

A review of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation showed 22,816 personal vehicles entered the U.S. at the Pembina-Emerson crossing between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28. Those vehicles carried 49,794 passengers.

From Jan. 1 to Feb. 29, 2024, 26,402 personal vehicles used the crossing, bringing 60,234 people into the U.S.

The numbers do not account for commercial vehicles used for international trade.

Before this year’s slump, the number of such crossings rose year-over-year since the beginning of 2020, when cross-border travel was nearly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the data shows.

Results from a Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada survey, released Monday, showed 61 per cent of Canadians have made travel plans this year, but 70 per cent of them said they are unlikely to visit the U.S. due to the political climate.

According to the survey results, 57 per cent of respondents said they would not travel to the U.S. because of the tariff dispute, 51 per cent attributed it to that country’s political leadership and 34 per cent said the Canadian dollar is too weak.

The U.S. has historically been Canada’s most popular travel destination due to its proximity, the association said.

Speaking from the grounds of the Manitoba legislature, where the provincial government hosted a Rally for Canada Sunday, 61-year-old Mary Lou said she was among those opting not to travel south.

“I had a trip planned down to Fargo to go to a concert, and we cancelled. We’re out the ticket money for the Bruce Cockburn concert — and he’s Canadian… but I don’t want to pay into their economy, I’m going to stay in Winnipeg and go to local events here, put my money here,” she said, carrying a large Canada flag alongside her friend Shelley Moore.

“And who knows what’ll happen? What if you get your car keyed? We don’t know how they’re going to treat Canadians going down.”

Stephanie Schoenrock, executive director of Visit Minot, stressed her state and city remain open for business and welcoming to Canadians.

“We fully recognize that now might not be the time, and that’s OK,” Schoenrock said. “It’s not like we are coming to the table with a hard sell, saying, ‘Get here, Get here.’ We’re not. I think we respect our friends to the north more than that.

“When the time is right, we’re still going to be there.”

Some American businesses contacted by the Free Press said they are not yet feeling a fiscal pinch from missing Manitobans.

“I haven’t really noticed too much of a difference,” said Olivia Jones, who works in guest services at downtown Fargo’s Hotel Donaldson.

“It does kind of seem like it’s gone down this year a little bit, I would say, but it hasn’t been a crazy drop or anything.”

The boutique hotel is a popular destination for Manitobans, who visit mainly in the summer, she said.

Billie Kitzman, a staff member at the Brewhalla market and hotel in Fargo, said there hasn’t been a noticeable drop in Manitoba visitors.

“It’s just kind of stayed the same,” she said.

—With files from Malak Abas

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.