Flow of foreign tourists to US has sharply declined

Tengrinews.kz – After Donald Trump's return to the presidency, inbound tourism to the United States has sharply declined, with the number of international visitors in March dropping by nearly 12 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to The Washington Post, experts believe the reasons are clear: reports of detentions and deportations, including weeks-long arrests of European tourists, have raised concerns about potentially negative experiences at the U.S. border. Some countries have tightened travel advisories, and Trump's tariff policies have heightened international tensions.
The newspaper cited data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
This 12% drop, following a 2% decline in February, marks the first major downturn since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If the trend continues, the U.S. could lose billions of dollars in tourism revenue," the publication warned.

According to the trade administration’s report, in March, the number of visitors from Western Europe fell by 17%, from Central America by 24%, and from the Caribbean by 26% year-over-year.
These figures are preliminary, the article notes, as they do not yet include data from Canada and Mexico, which have not submitted their reports.
After Canadian and Mexican citizens, the largest number of tourists to the U.S. typically come from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Australia, Brazil, and Colombia.

"The number of tourists from almost all these countries declined in March: from Colombia by 33%, Germany by 28%, and Spain by 25%," the article states.

It also emphasizes that before the start of Trump’s second term, inbound tourism in the U.S. had been gradually recovering to pre-pandemic levels.
According to estimates from the U.S. Travel Association, last year the tourism industry contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy and supported 15 million jobs.