WHITEFISH, Mont. — A chairlift hums to life as ski patrollers at Whitefish Mountain Resort ready the runs for the season. The pre-season drill looks normal, but the scene is not: late-November slopes remain brown, with no skiers in boots and limited snowmaking after a warm, dry stretch. Low snowfall and mild temperatures have pushed back openings across Western resorts and heightened industry unease.
Resort spokesman Chad Sokol warns that the season hinges on snow. Recent storms brought welcome flakes to parts of the Rockies and Pacific Northwest, including Whitefish, but operators are also preparing for a different threat to business: a drop in international visitors tied to new tariffs and hostile rhetoric from Washington.
Whitefish, known locally as Big Mountain and about 60 miles from the Canadian border, traditionally draws roughly a quarter of its visitors from Canada. Zak Anderson, executive director of Explore Whitefish, says Canadians are regarded as neighbors and an important market. Montana tourism officials report Canadian arrivals have fallen about 25 percent since the U.S. imposed steep tariffs and the president made inflammatory comments about Canada. Local merchants have felt the change: Canadian credit-card spending in Whitefish boutiques, restaurants and hotels is down about 12 percent.
The worry extends beyond one mountain town. The U.S. Travel Association estimates the country will see roughly 5 million fewer international visitors this year. Longwoods International, a tourism research firm led by Amir Eylon, conducts monthly surveys of Canadians and finds many people citing U.S. politics — including tariffs and overheated rhetoric — as reasons to cancel travel plans. Nearly half of respondents also point to a weak Canadian dollar. Eylon says many travelers who were already hesitant for financial reasons now feel insulted or unwelcome, making it easier to skip trips to the U.S.
Small communities that depend on cross-border visitors are trying to respond. Kalispell, near Whitefish and Glacier National Park, has launched a ‘Welcome Back Canada’ discount campaign that involves local hotels, including the century-old Kalispell Grand Hotel. General Manager Mitchell Bump frames the effort simply: his job is to care for guests and keep rooms filled, regardless of politics. Flathead County, where Kalispell sits, voted about 65 percent for Trump in the last election, but local leaders say economic ties to Canada matter more than partisan divides.
Locally, officials say it is still unclear how many Canadians will travel to the region this winter. Whitefish just completed its second-busiest season on record, and the tariffs were imposed after some of the busiest weekends, limiting their immediate effect on last season’s revenues. Christmas-week bookings — a make-or-break stretch for many resorts — currently appear healthy.
Anderson says the decline in Canadian visitors has been partly offset by an uptick in domestic tourism and by people who have moved to Montana since the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet domestic travelers are increasingly booking at the last minute, complicating staffing and inventory planning. ‘There’s a lot of uncertainty — it’s hard to know what’s going to happen,’ he says. For ski towns that rely on both reliable snow and steady international demand, that uncertainty is the biggest threat of all.