USA: Trump Effect – Tourism Suffers Massive Visitor Declines

t-online USA: Trump Effect – Tourism Suffers Massive Visitor Declines Dorothea Meadows • 2 hours • 3 minutes read "Trump Effect" Tourism Industry in Turmoil: Visitors to the USA are Staying Away Trump souvenir in New York City: The number of foreign travelers to the USA is plummeting. US President Donald Trump's behavior, his hostile attitude toward foreigners, and his customs policy are deterring travelers from abroad. Business with German visitors is also collapsing. The US tourism industry had expected 2025 to be a good year with many foreign travelers. The number of international visitors to the United States increased sharply in 2024, and some forecasts even predicted that arrivals this year would return to pre-coronavirus levels. As things currently stand, this is unlikely to happen. Three months into the year, visitor numbers are plummeting. The US news agency AP reports this, writing: "Angry over President Donald Trump's tariffs and rhetoric, and alarmed by reports of tourists being detained at the border, some people from abroad are now avoiding the US and choosing alternative destinations." Read here why a German man was placed in deportation detention upon entry. The government's National Travel and Tourism Office released preliminary figures on Tuesday: According to them, the number of foreign visits to the US fell by 11.6 percent in March compared to the same month last year. The data does not include arrivals from Canada – figures for these are expected later this week – or land border crossings from Mexico. However, air traffic from Mexico fell by 23 percent, according to AP. According to data from air traffic data provider OAG Aviation Worldwide, bookings for flights between Canada and the US are said to have plummeted by around 75 percent in April compared to the previous year. Bookings for May are apparently developing similarly disastrously. A total of 7.1 million visitors from abroad traveled to the United States from January to March – 260,000 fewer than in the same period in 2024. The forecasting firm Tourism Economics, which in December had predicted an increase in international arrivals of almost nine percent, revised its forecast last week to a decline of 9.4 percent. According to Tourism Economics, a particularly sharp decline is expected from Canada, where Trump's repeated demand for the country to become the 51st state of the USA and punitive tariffs have caused considerable resentment. Canada was the most important country of origin for US travelers in 2024, with more than 20.2 million visitors. The Canadian booking platform Flight Centre Travel Group Canada reported 40 percent fewer bookings for vacation trips to the USA in March compared to the previous year, according to AP. Air Canada has also reduced its spring flight offerings to Florida, Las Vegas, and Arizona due to lack of demand. "All survey data point to a significant increase in cancellations and a massive decline in travel intentions," said Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics. Confiscation of smartphones and more – these are the rights of US border officials. Arrivals from China also fell by almost 1 percent. Leisure trips by Chinese citizens to destinations such as Disneyland, Hawaii, or New York declined dramatically. According to Wolfgang Georg Arlt of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, this will likely not change until after Trump's term in office. He calls it the "Trump effect." The decline in tourists will also have economic consequences for the US. Tourism Economics expects international tourist spending to decline by nine billion dollars this year. Sentiment also shifts in Europe and Asia Marco Jahn, president and CEO of the California-based tour operator New World Travel, works with international tour operators. In an interview with AP, he reported a booking decline of between 20 and 50 percent, depending on the market of origin. The declines are particularly noticeable in Scandinavia, where President Trump's repeated threat to take control of the NATO partner territory of Greenland is being met with resistance. "The USA is no longer perceived as a hospitable travel destination," said Jahn. The Californian tour operator "American Ring Travel," which offers climate-neutral bus tours in the USA, reports stagnating bookings from Germany since January. According to contract manager Richard Groesz, the reason is Elon Musk's support of a right-wing populist party in the federal election.