U.S. Is Only Country To See Tourism Decline In 2025
Trump's policies will cost the United States upwards of $29 billion in lost tourism revenue, according to a new study. Great job, voters.
Source: Forbes
While tourism is booming across the rest of the world, the U.S. is a notable loser this year as tens of millions of international visitors are choosing to travel elsewhere—costing the economy up to $29 billion—and risking millions of jobs.
“While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,” Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC, said in a statement. In its latest client note, Tourism Economics blamed “sentiment headwinds” for its projections of significant declines in visitation from Canada (-20.2%) and Western Europe (-4.9%) in 2025. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, travel bans, inflammatory rhetoric and harsh immigration policies have combined for a chilling effect on visitors—and there’s little indication of a reversal anytime soon. “Given we’re halfway through the year and we’ve seen these impacts, we don't know when the stiffest headwind is, but I think it does stay sustained,” Aran Ryan, director of industry studies at Tourism Economics, told Forbes. “We’re generally assuming that this persists for a while and that some of it is going to persist throughout the end of the administration.”