International Tourists Are Avoiding US Travel Amid Political Tensions
By: By Mia Taylor (TravelPulse)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
International Tourists Are Avoiding US Travel Amid Political Tensions
Image: US Customs and Border Protection (Photo Credit: danielfela/Adobe Stock)
The United States may be poised for a widespread slump in visitation from international travelers that extends well beyond a lack of Canadian travelers.
Visitors from countries that are historic allies of the United States are increasingly being deterred by the growing number of detentions at U.S. borders since Donald Trump has returned to office, according to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staff have been focusing greater energy in recent weeks and months on reviewing travelers seeking to enter the country, says the Businessweek report. And the extreme nature of some of the resulting detentions and entry denials may be rattling would-be visitors.
Several countries that are historic allies have issued advisories about visiting the United States in response to developments under the Trump Administration, which in addition to visitor detentions have also included abandoned recognition of transgender travelers. The list of countries that have issued advisories includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner for public affairs at CBP, told Businessweek that while lawful travelers should not be worried about the stepped-up enforcement, those seeking to enter the country "with fraudulent purposes or malicious intent" should not even try to do so.
Concerns about navigating the U.S. border process are likely just a part of the problem.
It's been reported for several weeks now by media, including TravelPulse, that Canadians are increasingly choosing to forgo travel to the United States. The change comes in response to the Trump Administration's rhetoric about annexing Canada and making it the 51st state, along with the tariffs the U.S. president has implemented for Canadian goods.
The decision among Canadians to avoid the U.S. amid such policies has triggered a sea change in transborder bookings.
Data from aviation analysts at OAG, reported by TravelPulse in late March, shows that from April to September of 2025, transborder bookings for Canadians seeking to visit the U.S. are down more than 70 percent compared to 2024. OAG called that startling decline in Canadian visitation a "collapse" in what was once a booming source market for the United States.
Reached for comment regarding the troubling picture emerging surrounding international visitation to the U.S., industry experts had mixed responses. The evaporation of Canadian visitors in particular, does not bode well for the U.S. economy.
"According to the U.S. Travel Association, over 20 million Canadians visit the U.S. each year, so any drop in travel from our neighbors to the north means a significant impact to the travel economy," Julian Kheel, founder and CEO of Points Path, a platform that helps travelers use frequent flyer miles to book trips, told TravelPulse. "U.S. airlines have also seen softening domestic demand in recent weeks, which could lead to a double whammy as both Americans and overseas visitors cut back on U.S. travel"
The Coconut Traveler, a Hawaii-based travel company specializing in luxury custom journeys to the Hawaiian islands experienced a robust start to 2025, including from Canadian travelers. There was renewed demand for both luxury travel accommodations and private experiences across the Hawaiian islands.
That positive momentum, however, has evaporated over the past few months.
"Within days of the administration's talk about Canada's annexation, we saw our first Canadian booking fall through," Debbie Misajon, owner of Coconut Traveler told TravelPulse. "The [travel] agent stated that her [Canadian] clients felt uncomfortable and uneasy planning a trip to the USA with all that's going on in our politics with Canada."
Those Canadian travelers opted to go to Portugal instead of Hawaii, says Misajon. And that's not all. The Canadian travel agent also shared fears with Misajon that some Canadian airlines may begin suspending flights to U.S. destinations amid the growing political tensions between the two countries.
Tim Hentschel, co-founder and CEO of HotelPlanner, a travel technology company, said his platform has seen Canadian bookings for U.S. hotels halved in 2025 compared to 2024. Additionally, bookings on the platform from German travelers have declined by 60 percent.
At the same time however, visitation from other international source markets appears to be increasing. For instance, U.S. hotel bookings from British and Irish travelers have ticked upward by over 30 percent compared to 2024, according to Hentschel.
"Travel is down slightly year-over-year to the USA, but it could be due to a strong dollar, high inflation, and retaliation to tariffs," Hentschel said. "People tend to travel with their pocketbooks, and where the currency is good, right now the U.S. does not have that value."
International travel insurance provider Insured Nomads has yet to witness any decline in visitation to the U.S. But that reality could be influenced by the reception international visitors receive at U.S. borders moving forward, a company executive told TravelPulse.
"We are seeing a continued demand, steady and not decreasing, for Europeans coming to the USA for both leisure and business travel," Insured Nomads CEO Andrew Jernigan said. "Whether the dynamic shifts depends on the actions of CBP employees. Are we a hospitable nation or a angry and hostile host?"
If there are more mistakes made at the point of entry for the United States with ongoing reports of travelers being detained or altogether rejected, the appeal of visiting this country is likely to suffer both over the short-term and for years to come, Jernigan predicted.
"The long-term damage could last for a generation and not just a season," he said. "Negative experiences on a trip make a lasting impression."
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"TRAVEL CANADA" has become a much more attractive idea for Canadians. If I were back there I would want to tour the Maritime Provinces, since although I've been as far as the west coast, I never got eastwards past Montmorency Falls, Quebec. As well, there's nothing wrong with a visit to the Caribbean or Mexico instead of Florida or California. Although throughout my life I have travelled almost all through the USA including Hawaii, even owning a home in Florida. Having spent winter time in Florida and California I feel sorry for those who will be suffering a financial loss there because of Trump's ignorant form of tariffs and diplomacy, but a point must be made about how wrong Trump's policies towards Canada are. A good way for Snowbirds to snub Trump would be to book a trip to Havana.
Arvo...for the first time in yonks (ages) ads are appearing on tv here to go to the USA for holidays etc..
Aussies are going elsewhere after hearing seeing reports about hard line immigration, going through mobile phones and lap tops etc..to the extent we have been told to take burner phones and leave everything else at home...
Certainly not a good look and now told to really reconsider any travel to the US...all a bit sad really, would expect that from other countries but not an ally...
These days China is offering VISA-FREE travel for 10 to 30 days to tourists from a whole lot of countries - a complete oppostite from the USA, and it's really paying off.
Thank you for the good news. I'm really not in the mood for foreign visitors.
Really? It's a good thing for me that the people here, especially my wife and her family, are not xenophobic.
There is only one country on earth that has been successful as a multiracial society, despite the recent effort by the left to polarize us. Even Brazil has given it a try and failed. I will be kind and not name the nations who have never even tried.
I was going to leave Trump alone today out of respect for the meaning and importance of the day, on one condition, that he neither ignore nor assault that meaning and importance in his "Memorial Day" message to the nation.
Trump posted his holiday message a little while ago, and in the 150 words or so there isnt one, not a single one, that recognizes the purpose of the day.
Well, he had his chance.
91% of China is Han Chinese, and the overwhelming majority of minorities are in border areas.
Ask an African in China how welcoming the Chinese are though. You'll get a different answer.
Canada thanks you for noticing her.
I'm just a little curious about why you seem to have so much to say about China when I doubt that you have ever stepped foot in the country.
As soon as I read Vic's comment, I knew as well that Canada had much less racial discrimination than the USA. Where was the destination of the "Underground Railroad"? A major political party was headed by a Sikh.
As one U.E.L. wag, Mather Byles, put it during the American Revolution: "Which is better - to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away or by three thousand tyrants one mile away?
Couldn't do it?
Not under the circumstances.
My in-laws said the same thing when they greeted me today.
So when the tourist industry collapses, and puts a few hundred thousand people out of work, you'll once again cheer for trump... Sickening.
Actually it's quite coincidental that your comment about an African in China is made at about the 5th anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
Tourism is up in France... apparently getting visitors who have decided against going to the States.
I bet that if a poll were taken France would be the number 1 destination for tourism. I'm sorry I never got there. I've been near it, in England, Spain and Switzerland.
I think Spain passed France a year or two ago. Spain's beaches draw lots of Germans, Swedes, ...
Which is why the Brits go to Portugal.
LOL. Well my wife's daughter is comfortable enough in Germany. She got her Bachelor's degree in Logistics there, and has remained there working for a corporation as their Logistics person. I wish she would come home - she is fluent in English, German and of course her mother tongue, so she could get a stellar job in Logistics here, and I would have someone to play Scrabble with.
We used to have lots of them, here in Calais, just across the Channel... but Calais has been under siege by migrants for over a decade, now... and the Brits go elsewhere. Maybe Portugal!
How does one play Scrabble in Chinese???
The same way as people play Mah Jongg in English.