Are Exchange Rates the Reason Canadians are Dumping Las Vegas?
Posted on: January 27, 2026, 02:32h.
Last updated on: January 27, 2026, 02:55h.
- Las Vegas casino/hotel company offers “At Par” exchange rate promotion to entice more Canadians to travel to Vegas
- Las Vegas has experienced dramatic declines in Canadian travellers coming there since early 2025
- Will the promotion help address deeper, fundamental issues Canadian travellers have with the US?
In news headlines last week was an interesting promotion by downtown Las Vegas hotels Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas, and Golden Gate Hotel & Casino – tackling the exchange rate challenges for Canadian travellers to the U.S. (US$100 as of Tuesday morning costs Canadians CA$136).
Those properties have launched an “At Par” commitment across select gaming, hotel and beverage offerings through August 31. Eligible Canadian guests receive US$1 in value for every CA$1 spent, regardless of daily exchange rates. Canadians can redeem up to CA$500 in slot promotional play, treated at full US dollar value, for example.
Canadians staying at Circa, the D or Golden Gate will receive at par rates at check-in. The promotion also extends to several beverage venues, including BarCanada at the D Las Vegas, Overhang at Circa and Bar Prohibition! at Golden Gate.
Will Canadians Care?
But will Canadians give a damn? As everyone knows, especially hotel and casino operators in Las Vegas, there’s been a dramatic decrease in the number of Canadians travelling to Sin City over the past year. Is it mostly about exchange rates?
These hotels are trying to address the problem with transactional tactics when, effectively, it is not fundamentally a transactional problem,” said Christopher Whyte, a travel agent with Freestone Travel, outside Toronto. “Costs are only a small part of the problem.”
There’s an active Canadian boycott of US travel and US-made goods in light of the political and trade tensions between the two nations over the past year.
US President Donald Trump this week threatened 100% tariffs on Canadian goods after the Canadians last week touted a new trade deal with China — one that will include the importation of thousands of China-made EVs into the Canadian market. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has used words like “ruptured” to describe the old-world trade order and spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week about the need for middle powers to start asserting their own economic independence away from the world’s superpowers — an indirect shot at the Americans.
Trump Impact
Trump has rattled a lot of Canadians with his tariff policy, his words, and tone over the past year. Last week, he diminished the contributions and sacrifices of Canadians in the Afghan war (Canada lost 159 soldiers in that war), and said that Canadians live because of the US. It’s all had a compounding effect.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadian return trips to the US fell 23.6% on average in November compared to November 2024, and 7.6 million fewer Canadians crossed via land travel to the US in 2025 — a 30% drop compared to 2024.
As we wrote last week, an Abacus poll showed that a significant minority of Canadians surveyed (33%) would think less of close friends or family members who travelled to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport. The venue recently published Las Vegas airport traffic data for October, showing a 33.2% year-over-year decrease in Canadians arriving via WestJet that month, along with a 26.3% decrease via Air Canada, a 22% decrease via Porter Airlines, and a 71.4% decrease via Flair.
You have to give Derek Stevens, owner and CEO of the three hotel properties, credit though — talking about how he grew up in Detroit, just across the border from Canada, and the fact that he has family and friends in Canada. Stevens said he remembered Canadians driving across the border to visit Detroit area casinos, being offered at-par money promotions. He’s never seen anything like it in Las Vegas, having been in the business there for 30 years.
Las Vegas Gambling: Canadian Boycott
“I just felt things have gotten a little too touchy … with what has transpired economically and a bit politically … it was a good time to come out and say, hey Canada, we miss you,” Stevens told CBC News. “We thought doing the ‘At Par’ was a way of showing that we meant it. (The drop in Canadians coming to Las Vegas) been a combination of exchange rate, and we have this boycott. I understand the background behind it and completely get the feeling of bitterness. I understand it if you are not prepared (to come back). But we want you here, and we want to be up front about it. Canada and the US are better together. Although our countries are in a spat, I don’t think all our people are.”
Meanwhile, Christopher Whyte raised an interesting data point: his company’s largest industry partner, a major North American travel consortium, holds its annual conference in Las Vegas and hosts thousands of travel advisors. He typically goes every year, and their broader agency usually has between 20 and 30 people attend. This year, five from his agency are signed up to attend. If you’re a travel agent, and the interest among travellers isn’t there, why allocate resources and go?
Transactional Tactics Won’t Address Fundamental Issues
“From where I sit, Canadians have reduced travel to the US primarily for two main reasons,” Whyte said. “One, political concerns that continue to denigrate and threaten the sovereignty of the US’s largest trading partner and traditionally closest ally and two, personal security concerns. ICE activities are getting a lot of coverage up here, and there is continued noise about issues crossing the border (for those who do). Canada is a very pluralistic and multicultural society, and many Canadians believe (rightly or wrongly) that their freedom and personal security might be at risk if they cross the border.
Personally, I don’t believe these fundamental issues can be addressed by transactional tactics like incentives and discounts,” said Whyte.
According to a Flight Centre study of over 1,000 adult Canadians asking them about their travel intentions for 2026, 62% said they were less likely to travel to the US compared to previous years. The study was conducted in November.
Flight Centre Sees Zero Impact on Bookings So Far
Amra Durakovic, a spokesperson for Flight Centre in Toronto, said so far they haven’t seen any “meaningful lift” in Las Vegas bookings tied to the promotion. Some customers are aware of it and have mentioned it, but it hasn’t translated into increased demand.
“Part of that is practical,” she said. “The hotels participating are on Fremont Street, while most Canadian travellers still prefer staying on the Strip. What we’re seeing is that US travel decisions are being shaped less by short-term price incentives and more by sentiment — including comfort levels, perceived welcome and the broader political climate. Right now, those factors appear to outweigh individual promotions for many Canadian travellers.”
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