How much has US tourism declined under Donald Trump?

For years, the US has used media, be it film or television, as a soft power, winning hearts and minds via Hollywood and shows like Friends, and seeing these places immortalised on screen has made them go-to destinations. Now, under President Donald Trump, politics is again impacting international travel, this time more negatively, with visitor numbers dropping against the backdrop of ICE attacks and the rhetoric of the president, raising the question of how much America’s politics will damage its tourism sector.

I write this as somebody who has a trip to America booked for later this year, somebody who has a number of friends from the country, and who enjoys a lot of sport and culture from across the pond. Despite that, we need to talk about Donald Trump and the impact that his actions are having on potential tourists, including me.

Wherever you sit on the political spectrum, nearly anywhere in the world, there have been actions taken that impact you. Whether that’s tariffs implemented on your country, threats around invading Greenland and taking the sovereignty of a fellow European neighbour, threats against Canada, the attack on Venezuela, and the potential for further attacks on Iran. Then there are domestic issues, with shocking stories around ICE landing appearing every week, and nationalist rhetoric on a near-daily basis. As a tourist, there are also concerns around declaring your social media posts, and, let’s be honest, the danger in visiting a country that feels like it’s going off the rails.

If it weren’t for the country hosting the World Cup, then I wouldn’t be going in the immediate future, with other places looking far more attractive right now, and I’m far from alone in this thinking, too. The World Travel & Tourism Council have estimated that international visitor spending in 2025 will have dropped by £9.25billion, and alongside them, Oxford Economics has forecasted the international visitor spending for 184 different countries, with America the only one that is expected to see a decline.

Last year, Skift, a tourist industry site, ran a poll that indicated that nearly half of travellers, 46%, wouldn’t visit America because of the actions of Trump. Last July, government data showed that foreign visits to the country had dropped 3% year-on-year, with tourism numbers dropping in five of the first six months of Trump’s second term as president. These numbers came at the halfway point of 2025, and in the months that have followed, we’ve seen a ratcheting up of tensions, rather than a cooling off.

America’s actions overseas not only show no sign of stopping, but they also seem to be speeding up, and the regime appears to be taking an isolationist approach, one that is, at best, damaging relations with key allies, and at worst, totally destroying them. For all the talk about crime in other countries, this is a place where ICE agents are shooting dead innocent people on the streets. Right now, the USA simply doesn’t feel that safe.

There are a million reasons to visit America, such as experiencing an NFL game live, tasting your first bite of genuine, authentic barbecue, seeing Yosemite National Park, cities like New York, San Francisco and New Orleans are iconic for a reason, and the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, is unparalleled, but that isn’t enough right now.

Americans are some of the friendliest people you can ever meet: just try and sit alone in a dive bar, and you;ll have to give up as you’ll have new friends within 20 minutes. However, for a lot of potential visitors, this no longer feels like the place we’ve read about in books or seen on screen, wherein, at least from the outside, America feels like it’s going in the wrong direction, being inhospitable, and is no longer the must-visit destination that it once was.