The United States has seen a decline in the number of international tourists visiting the country since President Donald Trump took office, following multiple instances of travelers being detained by customs officers.
Since Trump descended on Washington, D.C., in January, his administration has launched a deportation operation targeting immigrants, which has resulted in tourists getting caught up in the efforts at times.
The administration has also threatened and implemented tariffs on certain countries, but the arrests of travelers in particular have prompted some countries to raise travel advisories urging their citizens to be careful when heading to the U.S.
The effect could cost the U.S. billions of dollars in revenue to the tourism industry and impact industries across the country, from hotels to restaurants to airlines to tourism companies.
Fewer foreign travelers arriving
Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, testified before Congress in April that the U.S. recently lost its slot as the top national destination for international tourists.
“America is no longer the top destination for global travel,” Freeman told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security on April 8.
International tourism to the U.S. peaked in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office, but it has failed to reach those same levels since the pandemic and has only dipped further this year.
In March, foreign travel to the U.S. was down 12% compared to the same month in 2024, according to the International Trade Commission. In some cases, travel to the U.S. has dropped by one-third just in 2025, according to figures from the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration viewed by the Washington Examiner.
Canada and Mexico are the top senders of tourists, followed by France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Australia, Brazil, and Colombia. All reported declines in travel to the U.S. last month, most notably a 33% drop in Colombia, a 28% decline from Germany, and a 25% reduction from Spain.
Canada and Mexico are not included in the ITC statistics. However, the number of Canadians who chose to visit the U.S. by vehicle and crossed a land port of entry in March was down 32% compared to the same period last year.
Additionally, arrivals by car from Mexico were down 17% during that same time span.
Why are fewer tourists coming
Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics for CoStar Group, said it was important to note that Easter was in April this year as opposed to last year, when it was in March.
“Because they had an Easter spring break, and that didn’t happen this year, that’s happening in April,” Freitag said during a phone call. “That calendar shift matters.”
Canada’s drop in land border crossings came after Trump announced his tariffs against the northern neighbor and stated his intentions of taking control of Canada and turning it into the 51st state.
Other U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, have issued warnings to their citizens about visiting the U.S. after nationals of those countries were detained by U.S. customs while attempting to enter.
“All of this is just sort of a steady drip, drip, drip of negative news that makes the U.S. on the surface — it looks like it’s a little bit less inviting,” Freitag said. “These are, of course, just exceptions, like the majority of people still travel to the U.S. They come in, no problem. They stay, they leave. Everybody’s happy, but these well-publicized trips probably make some Europeans and Germans specifically think twice.”
In one instance, legal permanent U.S. resident Fabian Schmidt was detained after flying into Boston and then transferred to a federal immigration detention facility in Rhode Island in March. Schmidt’s mother, Astrid Senior, told WGBH that her 34-year-old son was strip-searched and given a cold shower by customs officials at the airport before being transferred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
In another instance, German tourist Lucas Sielaff, 25, reportedly entered the U.S. on a tourist visa and traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, from San Diego, California. On his return trip to the U.S. on Feb. 18, Sielaff was arrested and detained for three weeks, he said in an interview with Swiss media outlet Tages-Anzeiger.
The U.S. Travel Association told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that the travel industry has seen “concerning trends” in domestic and international inbound travel.
“We attribute this to a variety of factors, including a strong dollar, long visa wait times, concerns over travel restrictions, a question of America’s welcomeness, a slowing U.S. economy, and recent safety concerns,” the association said in an email. “These challenges are real and demand decisive action. U.S. Travel is actively working with the White House and Congress to advance policies that drive economic expansion and keep the U.S. competitive on the global stage.”
Where will it go from here?
While the U.S. has been bumped from first place as the top global travel destination, Freeman said foreign tourism’s impact on the U.S. economy should not be understated, as it is a “vital economic engine” to the U.S. and is responsible for 15 million jobs nationwide.
“In 2024, international visitors alone contributed $181 billion to our economy,” Freeman said.
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By late summer, the U.S. should have a better understanding of whether monthly data early on in Trump’s second term was a fluke or part of a growing decline in global tourism.
“For corporate travelers, they book it seven days out or something, but if you’re a leisure traveler, you probably do this three months or four months [in advance],” said Freitag. “So we may not see the impact of the international slowdown — of any international slowdown, if any — for a while.”