More data is emerging showing that not only are Canadian tourists choosing to stay away from the United States, but European tourists also have been avoiding trips there since President Donald Trump took power.
New figures from the US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) and International Trade Administration (ITA) reveal that 17% fewer tourists from Western Europe went to the US in March 2025, compared to the same month in 2024. Tourism from Germany was down 29% and the UK sent 15% fewer visitors to the States, meaning two of the biggest sources of tourism have shrunk. The number of visitors from Ireland and Norway also fell by more than a fifth.
Europeans travelling to US in markedly less numbers
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) April 12, 2025
Decline of as much as 30-35% pic.twitter.com/xSlCxfQx77
Negative sentiment and financial uncertainty
The news comes in the wake of a wave of advisories from European countries to citizens thinking of undertaking transatlantic travel, warning of what appears to be the tighter application of entry policies since US immigration agents have detained a number European citizens at the border. Trump’s presidency has resulted in what Tourism Economics analysts are calling a “negative sentiment shift toward the US.”
Financial uncertainty due to Trump’s imposition of trade tariffs can also be said to be affecting consumer confidence and, combined with poor exchange rates on the dollar, might account for some of the decline, along with a series of air transport accidents. But while domestic travel within the US remains stable, a falling appetite for US trips is being seen in the NTTO’s data beyond its immediate neighbour Canada and beyond Europe.
Overall, foreign tourism was 11% down, or 12% according to the Financial Times. The Caribbean sent 26% fewer tourists, Central America was down 24%, South America 11%, Africa 10%, Oceania 8% and Asia 1%.
Goldman: Foreign tourism to the US has plummeted since Liberation Day (which will just make our trade balance that much worse as inbound tourism is an "export"). pic.twitter.com/32H1jRLPiJ
— Neil Sethi (@neilksethi) April 9, 2025
Recession looming
Worse, that 1% drop for Asia be about to steepen, given a recent advisory from Chinese authorities reminding its citizens that a “deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States” means they should “fully assess the risk of travel.” Those words are being seen as a flex by the Chinese in the ongoing trade war.
A 10% drop in Canadian travel alone could see 140,000 US jobs at risk, according to the US Travel Association (USTA) back in February. Tourism Economics put the Canadians at 20.2% down in March. With Delta Air Lines warning of recession and revising forecasts down, this week USTA’s president and CEO Geoff Freeman reiterated the “growing challenges that threaten both the future of the industry and America’s competitive edge” in words to the House Homeland Security subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security. If the current chill on US travel continues, it could be a whole sector that crashes.
