An often overlooked aspect of the American economy is tourism’s contribution to the United States. The WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) shared that in 2023, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product – a measure of a country’s total economic output) contribution had increased by over $100 billion, with $2.36 trillion being contributed towards the U.S. GDP. America also saw an increase of 656,000 jobs in the related employment sector. However, with this documented growth comes a major recent decline in tourism. With this decline continuing to drop, businesses and jobs reliant on tourism are under threat, and revenue from tourism could see a significant decline.
The Decline from 2024
With tourism to America exceeding previous records, it was expected that growth would stabilize or continue. American tourism was expected to see more profit than before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, after March of 2025, the United States is seeing a massive decline in just a month. March 2025 has seen an 11.64% decrease in overseas visitors compared to March 2024. This is shown in data the International Trade Administration released, which releases monthly reports documenting arrival statistics to America. Looking at tourism coming into the United States from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, South America, Central America (excluding Mexico), and the Caribbean, they have all had a significant decrease in traveling to America, with the largest decrease being 26% from the Caribbean. Western Europe has a substantial impact with its larger numbers, with a 17.15% decrease compared to the 2024 March summary from the ITA. 2,706,146 arrivals were documented to be coming into the United States in 2024. That number dropped to 2,391,265. The WTTC was expecting a continued increase in arrivals; however, tourism to America is only seeing a decrease, and this decrease will likely continue for the coming months.
The Cause of the Sudden Decline
What has caused this surprising drop-off in tourism is recent U.S. policies tied to immigration, fear of border patrol, an unstable economy, and a general negative outlook towards the United States. Because of these issues, most tourists are opting to travel within their region instead of traveling to the United States. While there is talk of the decline being chalked up to nationalism, accounts from those refraining from trips to the United States show that geopolitical issues are more at fault. In a report with USA Today, Ryan Estrada, a cartoon artist who planned to visit America during the summer with his wife, cancelled their trips due to warnings from their family living in America. Graphic artist Rebecca Burke, despite having no previous criminal record, was detained for nearly two weeks because of an expired passport while visiting the United States for a backpacking trip. In a BBC article, Canadian residents cancel plans to travel to the United States due to a growing fear of getting stuck at the border. With the negative sentiment growing in the United States and nothing being done to combat this, this attitude will only grow.
The Consequences of the Tourism Drop-off
With this decline, many are starting to fear the effects of this on the United States. The current number estimated by researchers is in the billions of dollars of lost money from the lack of tourism to the US. Once the tourism spikes are seen and preplanned for winter and early spring, the full weight might hit some tourism-reliant cities. The travel industry was worth over a trillion dollars in 2024 and supports over 15 million jobs. If this continues to snowball, millions of dollars could be lost, and thousands could lose their jobs. A whole industry is being threatened if nothing is done to address any of this. The travel industry has just barely recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the only thing this decline would achieve is more layoffs in the travel industry and billions of dollars in lost revenue. Since this is something that most people can’t fully control, the only thing to do right now is to wait and see if this snowballs into something greater, or if the situation can be controlled before the full extent of this causes substantial damage.
Sources:
https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/resource/inbound-travel-to-us-in-steep-decline/
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/16/international-tourism-america
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240617-why-the-us-is-the-top-country-for-tourism-in-2024
https://www.tourismeconomics.com/press/in-the-news/us-rolls-up-welcome-mat-for-international-travel/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cross-border-trips-us-900-thousand-1.7511090
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/18/us-tourism-travel-trump/
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250328-the-people-boycotting-travel-to-the-us
The ITA Department of Commerce:
https://www.trade.gov/i-94-arrivals-program
https://www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/FINAL_SummaryAnalysis_COR_March_2024.xlsx
https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2025-04/Advance_SummaryAnalysis_COR_March_2025.xlsx
WTTC:
https://wttc.org/news/2024-wttc-reveals-us-travel-tourism-sector-exceeding-previous-records
Traveler and Conveyance Statistics:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/travel
Photos:
https://unsplash.com/free photos/an-airplane-is-flying-over-a-busy-highway-vJ7DmceYGQY
https://unsplash.com/free photos/cars-on-road-during-daytime-dcnP8_R6iDA
