International travelers are dramatically reducing their cross-border visits to the U.S. Here's why.
For international tourists, traveling to the United States is looking less inviting these days.
For international tourists, traveling to the United States is looking less inviting these days.
The combination of President Donald Trump’s trade policies and hostile rhetoric toward much of the rest of the world are creating a chill in international travel to the U.S. That shift might have a significant economic impact, with one Wall Street firm projecting U.S. revenue could collapse by as much as $90 billion this year when combined with reduced travel and U.S. product boycotts.
Tourism from Canada has seen the biggest drop-off after Trump targeted the country directly through trade restrictions and indirectly by suggesting that the northern neighbor and close ally could become the “51st state” of the U.S.
Traveler data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows visitors coming across the northern border down 12.5% in February year over year, and off 18% for March.
Visitors from Western Europe, another traditional allied region, have also pulled back, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Commerce Department. Some vacationers from the most historically reliable countries of origin, like the United Kingdom and Germany, have chosen not to visit the U.S. Travel from those countries declined by as much as 29% in March.
Rating: 5