The Canadian dollar is trending down — but Windsor hospitality says it's a boon for business

While a poorly performing Canadian dollar might be bad news for snowbirds, businesses in Windsor, Ont., say they're already seeing a boost from cross-border visitors.

On Tuesday evening, the Canadian dollar was performing at about 71.1 cents US.

While the dollar has been trending downward for a bit, the latest dip immediately after tariff threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump triggered a drop to the lowest levels since 2020 and the uncertain early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But in Windsor, American business is already up. 

"It's exciting times. Downtown Windsor was the hub years ago for Americans coming over and then that kind of slowed down after COVID," said Andrew Corbett, vice-chair of the Downtown Windsor BIA and managing partner of WKND Hospitality. The company owns a handful of downtown mainstays, including Bull and Barrel, Disco Inferno and Wild Child nightclub. 

"And the most important thing, especially from the BIA side and downtown businesses, is that it helps fill the streets and there's more bodies downtown and it's a much more vibrant environment on the weekends."

He estimates that American business is up about 50 per cent in the last six weeks, and he says that in speaking with other BIA members, they too have noticed more American business. 

"Getting more Americans over here just helps business overall for all of us in the downtown core."

1.7 million Americans visited Windsor-Essex last year

At Caesars Windsor, a spokesperson says they make sure Americans are aware of the exchange rate — and the bigger gaming budget it provides — in their cross-border advertising. 

"It's always been an important part of our business and now with the stronger U.S. dollar, it is a great value for them to come over to our property," Susanne Tompkins said. 

She says Americans account for about a quarter of all Caesars Windsor patrons, and attributed their current busy season to a likely mix of the upcoming holidays and the value of the dollar. 

Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island doesn't specifically mention the exchange rate in their advertising because it changes often. 

But CEO Gordon Orr says they encourage American visitors who get more bang for their buck in southwestern Ontario. 

"What we do is we try and sell the assets of the region, the attractions of the region, compelling reasons why people would want to come over here and visit the region," he said. "The soft sell, of course, is the fact your dollar goes further."

Orr says they had 1.7 million American visitors in the region last year, of which about 1.3 million were daytrippers. He says that's more than they've had in the past few years.  

"We count on our friends from Michigan and Ohio to come and do that, and they recognize that when their dollar's got more buying power, they like to spend it here in Windsor Essex."

Canadians may still cross-border shop

But while the weak dollar adds value for visitors it can mean the opposite for Canadians hoping to shop and travel in the United States, including snowbirds heading south for the season or border community residents getting gas and groceries. 

But according to the Retail Council of Canada, it doesn't mean people won't do it anyway. 

"It's really about the selection of products and the availability of products that are not in Canada or retailers that we just don't have here," said Santo Ligotti, the group's vice-president of member services.

"If you think about retailers like Trader Joe's or Target, that's probably what attracts Canadians to go. Obviously, Canadians are going to be mindful about the cost of, given the exchange rate differences."