Johanna Jainchill
Nick Adams, President Trump's recently appointed special envoy for tourism, exceptionalism and values, took just a couple hours to respond to an email I sent asking for data backing up his assertion that "millions of Americans are rushing to visit the newly renamed Lake America!"
I was curious because Adams made his proclamation on X on Aug. 28, just one day after the Trump administration officially changed the name of the Great Lake that borders northern New York state and parts of the Canadian province of Ontario.
"Lake Ontario was not a draw for tourism," Adams posted. "Lake America is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the entire world! It's amazing how much progress can be made by simply having a better name and brand."
Adams didn't provide the data I'd asked for, but he doubled down on his claim, saying that Trump "understands big events and big destinations like no one else in U.S. history. He took a lake that no one thought about and that some in the world had never heard of, and overnight, he turned it into the most famous lake in the world. Everyone is talking about it, everyone wants to be there, everyone is going there."
Not only that, Adams said, but "fishermen have told me that the fish are biting more than ever. Families are planning impromptu vacations to the lake and taking off extra days of work to see the iconic destination. The traffic jams, I have been privately informed about, may require expanded highway access. There is simply no better getaway than to visit Lake America while the big beautiful Donald Ducks fly overhead."
I wasn't sure if Adams was being serious, which isn't a question I usually have when I get a note from someone with a state.gov email address. The kicker was his prediction that the lake might eventually compete with one of the world's most recognized names in tourism. "This is a lake that delivers," he said. "In the near future, I believe Lake America could rival numbers from Disney's Magic Kingdom. … Everything President Trump names and touches gets a huge boost in popularity."
I decided to call several hotels and two tourist boards near the lake. Nobody I spoke to had seen this influx of tourists -- and I got some chuckles when I read Adams' post aloud. But they said they'd check the numbers and get back to me. Chimney Bluffs State Park, a popular destination right on the lakeshore near Rochester, N.Y., did tell me that patron numbers were down slightly year over year from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7.
One thing I noticed: Nobody was calling the body of water Lake America.
It's been widely reported that Lake Ontario was not named after the Canadian province. The name predates the establishment of both the U.S. and Canada, said Billy Friend, chief of the Wyandotte Nation of Northern Oklahoma. It comes from the Wendat word "Ontari'io," referring to the lake's size and beauty.
"I take offense at any effort to change the name," he wrote. "Names preserve our history, language and heritage. Lake Ontario is part of our Indigenous history. It should be respected and preserved. Then, now and always, it is Lake Ontario."
I'm still waiting on official numbers from Adams and tourist boards upstate. But given that nobody I spoke to had even anecdotal evidence of a visitor surge, I'm not banking on it to be the case.
But upstate New York could use the boost. Destinations along the Canadian border, from Maine to Michigan to Washington state, have been hurt by the downturn in Canadian visitors since Trump took office. We've reported several times that in 2025, the U.S. was the world's only major country to record a decline in visitors, a 5.5% drop, to 68.3 million. Much of that was due to the 20.9% downturn from Canada, which until last year was the U.S.'s top source market for international visitors; it's now second, behind Mexico.
The decline was driven in large part by resentment of the administration's tariffs and the president's remarks about making Canada the 51st U.S. state. Several Canadian politicians have urged their constituents not to visit their neighbor. Just when things looked like they were starting to turn a corner, with reports of Canadian visitation edging up again, the tariff war heated up in August, a tit-for-tat that included the lake's name change.
Shortly after this happened, executives from some of the largest U.S. travel companies met with Trump at the White House on Sept. 2, a meeting the U.S. Travel Association said was to urge the administration to build on the World Cup's success and meet a goal of 100 million international visitors by 2030. I watched the short meeting, waiting for CEOs from the likes of Hilton, American Airlines and MGM Resorts to tell Trump what his administration can do to bring back international travelers.
But U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman was the only one who talked about international travel, asking the president to work with the industry to grow it. The other CEOs mostly thanked Trump for his economic policies.
Freeman said after the meeting that inbound travel to the U.S. in 2026 was projected to be flat to slightly up. That doesn't bode well for 2027, when the U.S. isn't playing host to the world's biggest sporting event.
Seeing that Adams is a U.S. envoy for tourism, I asked him what ideas he has to increase international tourism from places like Canada.
This time, he didn't respond.
Email Johanna Jainchill at [email protected] and connect with her on LinkedIn.