The president of Cornwall's Chamber of Commerce says the city's economy is already seeing a decline in business after the Canada-U.S. border was shut down earlier this week in advance of a native protest over armed border guards.

"The matter must be resolved and closing the international crossing is not the way to do it," said Scott Armstrong, president of the Cornwall and Area Chamber of Commerce.

He said closing the border poses a long-term threat to the region and hurts local businesses, tourism and the transportation sector.

A spokesperson for Anchor Motel in Cornwall told CTV Ottawa he's already seeing a 10 percent drop in business. He said he worries the decline will become even more drastic if the border continues to stay closed.

Under normal circumstances, it takes about 10 minutes to cross the border at Cornwall Island. Now, travellers are being rerouted to either Prescott, Ont. or Dundee, Que., making a simple cross-border trip to Cornwall an hour and a half drive.

The Cornwall border crossing handles more than 2.5 million trips each year with commercial and tourist traffic accounting for at least one million trips, according to the Chamber of Commerce.