The decline in demand for foreign travel to the US is now being seen by Expedia Group, which has said its first quarter results were down on expectations. The booking firm relies on inbound travel to the US which makes up two-thirds of its business, but the sector has shrunk year-on-year.
By the end of March 2025, 7.1 million overseas visitors had entered the US, according to official government data. That’s a 3.3% drop compared with the first three months of 2024. Now Expedia has revealed how the loss of appetite for travel to the US is affecting is own numbers. Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel has revealed that the company’s net bookings value is down 7% for the quarter and bookings to the US from Canada were down nearly 30%.
Expedia missed earnings and blamed weak U.S. travel demand. But this isn’t just one company.
— Thomas J Thompson (@t_j_thompson) May 9, 2025
Travel stocks are down. Consumers are trading down.
This is soft data in action and it may be telling us where the economy is headed next.#traveltrends #consumerbehavior #economy pic.twitter.com/soM3NbHcE1
“Rebalancing” of bookings elsewhere
Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said in an earnings call that the decline had continued, with lower demand in April compared to March. However, despite the “pressure on travel into the US”, Gorin said customer booking patterns were shifting, in a “rebalancing” that is seeing Europeans choosing Latin America over the US.
Expedia is not the only travel firm feeling the pain. The US Travel Association has warned of potential job losses, airlines have reduced seat capacity and flights to the US, Airbnb and Hilton recently noted downward trends among overseas visitors, particularly among Canadian and Mexican consumers – a phenomenon that is hurting Airbnb even though overseas bookings only represent 2-3% of its business.
As #NTTW25 comes to a close, one thing is clear: this industry shows up.
— U.S. Travel (@USTravel) May 9, 2025
Thank you to everyone who spotlighted how travel creates jobs, strengthens communities & drives our economy forward.
We’re proud to work alongside the people who keep travel moving—every day. pic.twitter.com/DTU7eZ8uRt
Big ticket spending down
With the US economy flagging for five consecutive months, depressed consumer confidence has led the Bank of America to remark that credit card holders are holding back from “bigger ticket discretionary outlays on airfare and lodging”, though in March and April they were still spending on “‘nice to have’ services like eating at restaurants.”
While Hilton’s President and CEO, Christopher Nassetta, has expressed optimism for the last two quarters of 2025 thanks to what he calls “the underlying strength of the economy”, Expedia does not appear to share his buoyancy. The firm recently bet on the power of Instagram, through the creation of a feature that can turn traveller’s Instagram inspo from dreams into real AI-generated itinerarires, but amid a sluggish domestic market and falling overseas visitor numbers, it has nonetheless revised downwards its full-year forecasts.
