SPOKANE. Wash.– Tourism from Canada is still on the decline in Spokane and businesses are hurting because of it.
One local company says it’s seeing 50% fewer Canadian customers compared to last year.
During a recent congressional committee meeting, Washington Senator Patty Murray said the decline in Canadian tourism is having a huge impact on Spokane’s economy.
“Passenger vehicle border crossings in my state are down more than 24% in the first 10 months of this year,” Murray said, “Spokane saw a 33% drop in visitors this year.”
Murray was citing a story KXLY did in April that referenced the number of people coming to the visitor’s center in Riverfront Park and writing where they’re coming from.
Those aren’t official numbers and are based on a sample size of less than 60 people.
But VisitSpokane said the number of Canadian tourists has continued to decline since then and its only seen fewer than 20 Canadians at its visitors center over the last couple months.
Numbers from US Customs and Border Patrol show travelers from Canada to Washington are down from previous years in September and October.
Best of Broadway, which holds performances at the First Interstate Center said that in 2024 it was selling around 100 tickets per week to people traveling from Canada.
But since April, hat number has been cut in half.
Justin Kobluk, president of WestCoast Entertainment which put on Best of Broadway said, “we’re looking at a few hundred tickets for every big show run that we have. Now, we’re counting our Canadian visitors into the dozens. Last show I think we had 14 total tickets out of the whole run of 15,000.”
Kobluk said that difference in ticket sales can be enough to decide which shows they want to bring to Spokane.
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