As foreign tourists stay away, US could lose $12.5 billion this year

By Ceylan Yeginsu

 

The US welcome mat is rolling up — at least that’s how some international travellers see it, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, a global organisation representing the travel and tourism industry. And the cost for that hospitality lapse will be high. 

The United States is on track to lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending this year, falling to less than $169 billion from $181 billion in 2024, according to the latest Economic Impact Research, published by the WTTC on Tuesday. 

That’s a 22.5 per cent decline from the US international spending peak of $217.4 billion in 2019 — and it comes after months of Trump administration policies that have deterred foreign travellers from visiting because they either feel unwelcome or unsafe.

Julia Simpson, the president and chief executive of the WTTC, said that while last year US travel spending remained below 2019 levels — mainly because the dollar’s strength made it expensive for international travellers — the downward projection for this year is driven by negative sentiment in the wake of tourist detentions and steep tariffs. 

“The near neighbours, Canada and Mexico, are not travelling,” Simpson said, referring to a decline in travellers from those countries in reaction to immigration crackdowns, tariffs, and politically charged statements on the part of the Trump administration. “There are also concerns over visas — whether they’ve got the right visa or might accidentally get arrested, which has made people quite fearful.” 

The United States is the only country among the 184 economies analysed by the WTTC and the global economic advisory firm Oxford Economics that is forecast to see an international visitor decline in 2025. As the United States tightens immigration and scrutinises visitors at its borders, other countries, like China, are relaxing visa requirements, aiming to encourage international tourism. “While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the US government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,” Simpson said. “I’m quite sure President Trump, with his background in hospitality, understands that holiday makers just want to come and enjoy the beautiful country and the people and the history and then go home again,” she said. 

The United States still has the world’s largest tourism and travel market, which contributed $2.36 trillion to the nation’s economy last year. But 90 per cent of tourism spending in 2024 came from domestic tourists. The WTTC says not encouraging international tourism to the United States is a missed opportunity because that’s where the real growth lies. Foreign travellers spend an average of $4,000 per trip — eight times more than domestic travellers, according to the US Travel Association. In 2024, the United States welcomed 72.4 million international visitors, 7 million fewer than in 2019. International arrivals have steadily declined this year, with significant drops in March from key markets like Canada, Britain and South Korea, according to US Department of Commerce data. 

While part of that decline can be attributed to the fact that Easter fell late this year, pushing back a popular travel window — particularly from Western Europe — many US travel companies have revised their projections for the summer to reflect the downward trend. 

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