Sunday, May 24, 2026 | 2 a.m.
When the pandemic hit in 2020 and the Las Vegas Strip went dark, Nevada’s economy spiraled. The tourism, travel and hospitality industries that make up nearly 40% of our GDP suffered devastating losses, leading to small businesses closing, casino workers losing their jobs and hardworking families across Nevada wondering how they would pay their bills.
It’s taken years for our travel and tourism sector to bounce back. I worked with leaders in both parties to cut red tape, help keep businesses open and support American workers. The proof is in the numbers: 2024 saw tourism drive Nevada’s economy to the tune of more than $100 billion, supporting 436,000 jobs.
But just as we started to feel like we could breathe again, President Donald Trump and his administration came into office and cut off our air supply.
Don’t take my word for it; the congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) recently released a report that details the negative impacts of the Trump administration’s economic policies on our tourism and travel industries.
The JEC is a bipartisan congressional committee that exists to report on the United States’ current economic conditions. Both Republicans and Democrats rely on data from the JEC to inform federal policy. So, when the JEC releases a report titled, “Under Trump, Declining Travel and Tourism is Hitting Local Economies Throughout the United States,” it’s coming from a trustworthy source.
The report tells us that international tourism to the United States fell sharply in 2025. We saw the number of jobs in the hotel and lodging sector nationwide drop for the first time since the Great Recession in 2008 (except for 2020, when the pandemic hit). The report also informs us that America’s travel sector posted a nearly $14 billion trade deficit in 2025, the first deficit in that sector since data collection began in 1999.
Importantly, the report tells us why this is all happening.
Instead of lowering costs “on Day 1” like Trump promised, one of the first things he did was impose blanket tariffs on our allies and trading partners, such as Canada. Canadian visitors are our top international market, and we’re losing them. According to the JEC report, last year the United States saw an overall drop of 9.9 million Canadian visitors compared with the year before.
It’s not that Canadians are unable to travel and spend their money — they’re just not traveling and spending their money here. It’s not just Canadians; the number of German visitors from 2024 to 2025 declined by 12.7%, resulting in $882 million they would have spent here lost. We’ve seen 7.4% fewer Australians come to the United States, and they on average spend nearly $7,000 per visit. To put a finer point on it, the United States was the only major destination to experience a decline in international visitors in 2025.
That’s not all we learn from the report. Trump’s multibillion-dollar war with Iran has caused gas prices to spike and families across this country to tighten their belts even further. Spirit Airlines shut down because fuel prices are too high. Combine that with this administration slashing funding for BrandUSA, which was specifically created to attract international visitors, and charging international visitors more for everything from visas to passes to enter our national parks, and you have an untenable decline.
This month, I met with a group of small-business owners in Las Vegas’ Arts District. They expressed how worried they are about keeping their doors open with the smaller number of both domestic and international visitors they’re seeing. They’re not alone. This administration’s economic policies are hurting small businesses across the country — in red states as well as blue and purple ones.
The damage Trump and his administration have done to our travel and tourism sector is widespread, and it’s unsustainable. This is a self-inflicted wound, and we can’t pretend it isn’t. That’s why I’m calling on members of Congress and the White House to come together in a bipartisan way and reverse course on their reckless policies. That starts with passing the bipartisan VISIT USA Act to restore BrandUSA’s funding, and the next step is formulating a clear plan to solve this problem before it becomes a full-blown crisis.
Catherine Cortez Masto represents Nevada in the U.S. Senate.
