The United States is expected to lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending by the end of the year, according to a report.
Analysts said foreign holidaymakers felt discouraged from visiting America, the most powerful travel economy in the world, because of the heated political climate.
Reports of tourists being stopped at the border, visa detentions, a tariff war waged by the Trump administration and a higher exchange rate were factors in a decline in spending by international travellers, said the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
The US remains the largest travel economy in the world but is experiencing a decline in foreign visitors
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It estimated that foreign tourists would spend $169 billion on holidays to the US this year, down 7 per cent from $181 billion last year and 22 per cent from the peak before the pandemic.
“While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the US government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,” Julia Simpson, chief executive of the WTTC, said. “I’m quite sure President Trump, with his background in hospitality, understands that holidaymakers just want to come and enjoy the beautiful country and the people and the history and then go home again. They don’t want to live there.”
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Although it remains the world’s largest travel economy, America is the only one in decline out of the 184 countries for which the WTTC produces annual reports.
“The near neighbours [of the US], Canada and Mexico, are not travelling,” Simpson said. “There are also concerns over visas — whether they’ve got the right visa or might accidentally get arrested, which has made people quite fearful.”
The Trump administration has a strong nationalist message
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On average Canadians spend three times more on holidays in the US than Americans, but they are going on holidays in the US 20 per cent less than they did at this time last year.
Trump’s remarks about making Canada the 51st state and tariffs against the country are also likely to be linked to a 35 per cent drop in travel by car from Canada into the US in April.
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American tourism to Europe is forecast to grow for the fourth year in a row, according to a survey by the travel insurance firm Allianz Partners.
In March the WTTC said the UK had lost more than $2.4 billion worth of exports as international tourists’ spending declined because of government red tape and a reduction to the budget of VisitBritain.
