According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on May 31, due to strong opposition from the international community against Trump administration’s policies, the number of foreign tourists visiting the US this summer has dropped significantly. Tourists from Canada, Europe, and other countries are expressing their dissatisfaction with Trump’s policies by boycotting US travel.
Data from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that in the past four weeks, about 1.9 million foreigners entered the US through major airports, a 6% decrease compared to the same period last year. Summer flight booking data also indicates that as of August, flight bookings from Europe to the US have decreased by about 12%, suggesting that the decline in the number of tourists is unlikely to improve in the short term.
Many foreign tourists told The Wall Street Journal that they have abandoned their travel plans to the US and decided to travel in Europe or within their own countries. Trump’s policies on deporting foreign immigrants, as well as reports of foreign tourists being detained and deported in the US, have raised concerns among some tourists. Others hope to express their dissatisfaction with Trump’s policies by boycotting US travel.
Canadians, who usually account for about a quarter of the number of international tourists to the US, are angry about Trump’s tariff threats and controversial remarks about “annexing Canada”. According to Canadian government data, the number of people flying from Canada to the US in April decreased by 20%, and the number of people crossing the border by land decreased by 35%.
Data from aviation data analysis company Cirium shows that in Canada, summer flight bookings to the US have decreased by 22% compared to the same period last year, with the number of flights to Los Angeles and Miami decreasing by about one – third.
John Parmelee, who runs a restaurant called Naked Turtle in Plattsburgh, New York, said that since early May, he has noticed a significant drop in the number of Canadian tourists in Plattsburgh. To attract Canadian tourists, he plans to put up a large Canadian flag in front of the restaurant and offer discounts to them. He said, “We are very worried about the future. It’s a bit like the COVID – 19 period. We don’t know what the situation will become.”
Canadian truck driver Marc Toews said that he originally planned a road trip across the US, but Trump’s remarks about “annexing Canada” changed his mind. “There’s not much I can do politically, but what I can do is not spend my money in the US.” Toews has adjusted his plan and decided to take a road trip in Canada this fall.
Many tourists from Europe and other countries have also changed their summer travel plans. David Byrne, a retired corporate executive living in London, UK, said he had planned to spend $7,000 to watch the US Open in New York, but he canceled the trip because he thought the Trump administration was “hostile” to foreign tourists. He has booked a two – week trip to Santorini, Greece. He said, “We spend a lot of money on vacations. We exercise our right to choose by traveling elsewhere, and we will spend our money in Europe.”
Achim Diergarten, a lawyer from Munich, Germany, has given up his plan to travel to the US West Coast this summer and decided to go to Vancouver, Canada. He said that news of Europeans being detained and deported in the US has worried him. “I have to worry about the risk of being stopped by immigration authorities or even arrested. For at least the next four years, the US is off – limits to me.”
Scott Mills, the general manager of the Garland Hotel in California, said that the hotel’s international tourist numbers have dropped by 30% this year, and bookings for the next few months have also decreased. “Part of the reason is political, part is the worry about visa issues, and part is the impact of wildfires on the scenery.” In January this year, large – scale wildfires in California severely damaged many neighborhoods. Mills said that some foreign tourists mistakenly thought the entire Los Angeles had been burned down.
The Wall Street Journal said that travel and tourism account for about 3% of the US GDP, and foreign tourists only contribute a small part of it. However, analysts pointed out that some areas in the US that rely on tourism may be severely hit, such as border towns near Canada.
Aran Ryan, research director of Tourism Economics, a subsidiary of Oxford Economics in the UK, pointed out that the tourism industry is mainly composed of small – scale enterprises, which are difficult to withstand fluctuations in demand. Tourism Economics predicts that as the number of tourists declines, international tourists’ spending in the US in 2025 will drop by about $8.5 billion, a decrease of about 5%.
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