U.S. mayor makes appeal to Canadian travellers: ‘We like you guys, we miss you’

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addresses the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on January 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Alex Wong /Getty Images

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A U.S. mayor has taken to social media to send a message to Canadians boycotting travel to the United States: Minneapolis misses them.

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Jacob Frey,  the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, said in the video he shared on Instagram on Wednesday: “Hey Canadians. We like you guys, we miss you. We don’t think of you as the 51st state. We know that you’re a sovereign nation.”

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“I understand you’ve been dealing with some kind of unreasonable stuff, and to put it lightly, we’ve dealt with some really unreasonable stuff in Minneapolis,” Frey said. “We can talk about that when you come to visit us.”

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The video comes months after two people were fatally shot in Minneapolis by federal agents. Renee Good was killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti was shot just weeks later, on Jan. 24, by a U.S. Border Patrol officer.

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Following Good’s death, Frey demanded that ICE “get the f— out of Minneapolis” during a news conference. “Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized — and now somebody is dead,” he said.

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In the recent Instagram video, Frey attempted to entice Canadians to travel to the Minnesota city by saying, “It’s beautiful fall right now,” and Minneapolis has “some of the best restaurants in the world.”

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“But most importantly, we can have each other’s company,” he added. “So we miss you guys, and whether it’s a short flight away, or for some of you even a drive, I can’t wait to see you when you visit our city. Love, Minneapolis.”

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The state also launched a US$5.2 million tourism campaign aimed at welcoming Canadians to California, and the city of Palm Springs displayed 40 red banners featuring the Canadian flag shaped as a heart in an effort to show the resort destination’s solidarity with Canada.

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Meanwhile, both Visit Florida and Travel Nevada tourism boards held promotional events in Canada earlier in the year to promote travel to their states and showcase commitment to the Canadian market.

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These efforts come after a sharp decline in the number of Canadians travelling south of the border. Recently released figures from Statistics Canada revealed Canadians spent $3.3 billion less on travel to the United States in 2025 compared to 2024, which amounted to a total of 7.4 million fewer trips south. When it came to leisure travel to the U.S., visits from Canadians dropped by 3.2 million, a reduction of 21.5 per cent.