The early days of the World Cup have offered many inspiring moments — not just the goals, cultural displays, and stories of international tourists discovering America’s incredible treasures, but a quieter revelation: Everyday Americans, not politicians, are the most effective ambassadors our country has. Across the nation, they are showing off their towns, their food, and their welcome, and reminding the world what America is really like.
It couldn’t come at a better time.
America faces a growing tourism crisis. In 2025, the U.S. experienced the largest decline in visitation of any country in the world. Last year, global international travel grew by 5%, while international travel to the U.S. served as a stark outlier and declined by more than 5%.
BIG LABOR TORCHING WORLD CUP TOURISM WITH SKY-HIGH HOTEL PRICES AND LOOMING LAYOFFS
This should concern everyone. Our competitors are winning the race for international travelers. And the U.S. economy is starting to pay the price.
As arrivals fell, a $50 billion travel surplus in 2015 turned into a $70 billion travel trade deficit. Foreign travelers spent $43 billion less in America in 2025 than they did as recently as 2019, when adjusted for inflation.
The good news? The World Cup is putting America back in the game and reminding us that a more welcoming posture can help keep us there.
The millions of overseas visitors exploring America, more than 80% of whom are traveling beyond World Cup host cities, are spending eight to 10 times more than domestic travelers. They’re also sharing images of America’s warm welcome, unique attractions, local food, and even our oversized gas stations — these images tell a very different story than many people see in the headlines.
Take the “Tartan Army” of Scottish fans who descended on Boston in the best sense of the word. One Scottish fan said Bostonians have been so welcoming that “it’s just like being back home.” The goodwill is mutual: Boston is already working to lure more Scottish visitors to discover a city they’ll love.
And the passion for America is not limited to Boston. A 2026 YouGov survey reports more than 80% of recent international travelers felt welcome during their U.S. visit and over 60% held a more favorable impression of our country after their visit. And in a diplomatic win, nearly half of international travelers said that visiting America made them more supportive of U.S. government security policies.
So, will the World Cup be a springboard to America’s travel rebound … or simply a moment in time that we reminisce about in the future?
Recent policy proposals coming out of Washington suggest the latter: a new $250 fee on travelers who need a visa, $15,000 bonds for travelers coming from certain countries of concern, proposed demands that millions of travelers provide their social media history, and even their DNA, before being granted the opportunity to spend their money in the U.S. These proposed measures come on top of the 80% cut to the national tourism marketing organization whose job it is to promote these positive World Cup experiences around the globe.
These types of policies will crush America’s tourism economy.
The alternative approach is to seize the World Cup goodwill that is rippling around the world and use it as a launch pad for a strategy to win travelers back. How do we make the United States the globe’s most visited travel destination and attract 100 million international tourists annually? What source countries spend the most and present the best way to strengthen America’s economy? What regulations deter foreign guests and strangle our travel economy?
THE WORLD CUP REVEALS AMERICA’S REAL STRATEGIC POWER
These are the questions policymakers should ask and answer.
The World Cup is proving what the American people have always known: Our greatest ambassadors aren’t in Washington. They’re welcoming visitors in communities across America every day.
Geoff Freeman is President and CEO of U.S. Travel Association.