After an unprecedentedly poor year for U.S. tourism (as well as other types of visitors), marked by a dramatic drop in revenue, U.S. policies continue to antagonize international visitors seeking to come to America.
A new controversial proposal by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), posted in the Federal Register, requires some visitors, including tourists, to provide social media information from the last five years, along with phone numbers, email addresses, and other personal details for the same period.
However, some experts have warned that the new requirement could deter tourism. A question posed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees CBP, is how the social media crackdown would affect those seeking to visit the United States, especially tourists—a pertinent topic following this year’s decline in international tourism.
President Trump, however, has made his priorities clear in a recent press conference; he gave his stamp of approval and explained why in a few brief words.
On Wednesday, at a press conference, President Donald Trump answered questions about the new CBP proposal requiring tourist visa and ESTA applicants to share five years of social media history and whether he was “concerned about a decline in tourism next year” as a result—a warning that has been raised by travel and tourism officials and experts since the requirement was first proposed.
“No. We want people to come over here. We want safety. We want security. We want to make sure we’re not letting the wrong people come into our country,” President Trump said regarding the new social media rule.
The president’s reply clearly prioritized safety and national security over a warning about falling tourism and the broader economy, as he further justified the need for the proposal.
President Trump said, “We’re getting rid of a lot of bad ones from jails, from mental institutions, drug dealers, we’re …. [getting rid of] lot of bad people, murderers,” adding, “In some cases, we don’t even want to get them out. We put them in jail because we’re afraid they’re going to come back into our country.”
The changes align with the current U.S. government’s broader effort to revamp the legal immigration system while pursuing mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
On the online discussion platform Reddit, a post on the topic has drawn strong responses, mostly questioning the operational feasibility of the proposal and the resources required. But one user put an end to the doubts.
“No, it’s no longer a tough task in the era of AI. This process can be used to revoke visa applicants who have no online presence or don’t provide active accounts as requested. I’m worried that it may be extended further to “willful misrepresentation” in the future, which is a lifetime bar to the U.S.,” the Reddit user wrote.
The reply concluded with a clear example of an Indian applicant whose U.S. visa was denied for failing to disclose their Reddit account.
After H-1B Visas, It’s U.S. Tourist Visas’ And ESTA Applicants’ Turn For Greater Scrutiny
Starting December 15, 2025, the U.S. State Department expanded mandatory social media vetting for H-1B and H-4 applicants, requiring all profiles to be public for review, moves that may lead to delays or denials if inconsistencies or security concerns are found.
After expanding scrutiny to H-1B visas, CBP is now seeking historical social media data on tourists from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries (42 in total) whose citizens are eligible to use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) system to enter the U.S. This shift has the potential to impact tourism from those 42 countries.
VWP nations typically include America’s strongest allies, whose nationals are usually the visitors the U.S. wants to attract, including the UK, Japan, Australia, France, Germany (as well as most European nations), Israel, and Qatar. However, the requirement for tourists from these countries to hand over five years of social media history for inspection could deter tourism in 2026.
A December 10 notice from CBP says that, citing national security and public safety and an executive order, ESTA applicants will be required to provide five years of social media history.
“In order to comply with the January 2025 Executive Order 14161 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application. The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years,” the notice reads.
To this, the CBP is also adding other personal elements for disclosure, calling them “high value data fields.” Some of these are:
- Telephone numbers used in the last five years;
- Email addresses used in the last ten years;
- Family number telephone numbers used in the last five years
In the I-94 form and ESTA application, the DHS has added the question, “Please enter information associated with your online presence Provider/Platform-Social media identifier.”
Although the process to submit one’s social media history and personal details sounds simple, there’s a possibility that some tourists may be put off from visiting the U.S. due to concerns about privacy, as well as a general feeling of unwelcomeness stemming from tougher policies for entering the country—a sentiment that some travel and tourism experts believe is linked to the slump in international tourism seen throughout 2025. And, if tourism dips again next year as visa and entry restrictions tighten, that could cost the U.S. a lot of revenue.
Visa Restrictions And Tourism Revenue
As U.S. visa restrictions increase, tourist numbers and related revenue decline, as seen since the start of 2025, amid the U.S. government’s clampdown on all visas.
In May 2025, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reported that the U.S. was set to lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending this year.
“While stricter visa requirements can add additional friction on travel and so lead to fewer visitors, it is negative sentiment around US government policies in general, such as tariffs, that appear to be putting off many foreigners, especially in Canada,” the WTTC had previously told TheTravel.
If the five-year social media proposal is adopted, U.S. tourism could take a hit in 2026, possibly making it a weaker year on multiple fronts.
- Privacy concerns could deter short-term visitors to the U.S.
- Extra ESTA scrutiny could reduce overall visitor numbers.
- Extra vetting could delay approvals and push travelers to other destinations.
- Fewer international visitors mean less spending on flights, hotels, and attractions.
Given that even a 1% drop in international visitor spending costs about $1.8 billion annually (according to the U.S. Travel Association), sustained declines linked to the policy could result in billions of dollars in lost tourism revenue.
The potential for a revenue loss next year could further strain the U.S. economy, which has already been hit by a sharp decline in international arrivals throughout 2025. Moreover, some believe the CBP’s new social media crackdown could push FIFA World Cup fans to skip the U.S. and attend matches in Canada and Mexico instead in 2026, where travelers might feel entry is easier and less invasive for tourists. Still, whether this is the case remains to be seen next year.
