US tourism industry faces drop-off as immigration agenda deters travellers
US tourism industry faces drop-off as immigration agenda deters travellers
Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdown
Summary
The US tourism industry faces a major decline as harsh immigration policies deter visitors.
High-profile detentions of Western travelers have led to a forecasted 9% decrease in visits, reversing a previously expected 5% rise, and risking a $64 billion loss.
Germany and the UK updated travel advisories following detentions of citizens without clear visa violations.
Canadian tourism also dropped significantly amid tariff threats. Denmark and Finland warned transgender travelers about entry issues.
Experts cite anti-immigrant rhetoric and unpredictable enforcement as key deterrents.
Good, this gives me a little hope that the rest of the world is starting to understand how awful the US is, and that there just might be a few actual consequences for that awfulness.
Travelling to the USA right now sounds absolutely insane. Like who would even consider it?
You get to the airport. Then you have to unlock your phone and let a random moron sift through its contents.
It’s literally a recipe for disaster/arrest. The cops over there are fucking deranged. Sorry for any good ones. But you’re like the 1%. Police brutality in the USA is shocking to Europeans. I would be scared to be pulled over. Am I getting a ticket or a headshot/arrested for years?
Also I could imagine that if you refuse to unlock the phone, you’ll also be arrested. And by „I could imagine“ I mean 100% sure.
They could plant anything in there or claim they found terroristic messages. No thanks.
The USA are like Russia and Iran now.
And to think that, as a teen, I actually dreamed of moving there. Good lord thanks mom and dad for telling me it’s a fucking stupid idea. I would regret it now.
I'm a us citizen living in Japan and I wouldn't consider. Unless someone's dying, I'm staying out. Taking my non-white wife who barely speaks any English is 100% out of the question.
Note this means tourist areas should see prices drop on food in grocery stores because the supply was being created pre-decreased population. The decreased cash flow will hurt businesses and the suppliers will decrease production as to not have to sell at slim to no margins which will bring the prices back up soon enough (or the farmers/distributers will go out of business themselves).
It will give people in those areas a false narrative for the time being though because they will be happy about lower prices and less car traffic... But all the resteraunts will have less patrons, and less money going to servers, less jobs to be had eventually.
I doubt prices will drop as fast as bankruptcies will increase because the distribution chain has that price inflation and it will react slowly. The tighter the margin the more quickly the business will fail.
Employment will also drop quickly because firing people is a fast and easy way to reduce overhead so service quality will dive off a cliff.
But, hey, less traffic! Yay!
The nature and scenery in the US is honestly stunning, and you're lucky to have the NPS to make all of it so accessible.
In saying that though; there is natural beauty everywhere you look in the world and it's very easy, and often cheaper to go elsewhere.
and you’re lucky to have the NPS to make all of it so accessible.
Give it a couple years...
Do not under any circumstances come to America. We are experiencing a Nazi take over.
A few weeks ago, I told my Canadian coworker that if she leaves to see her Dad, as she does at least once a year, she might not be able to come back. She just laughed like I was joking.
There's more than a few Canadians who think it can't happen to them.
And nobody's seen her since...
Look, I've been to the states a good 7 or 8 times and I'm really very fond of the place and the people generally. That includes the, hands down, best summer of my life on a college visa.
I will not be going back there until shit calms down. I just can't gamble on the notion of spending weeks in a cold, overly bright shithole cell on the whim of anyone on the way through just for a holiday when I can spin over to any country in Europe and just get a smile and a "Welcome" from the border security on my way in.
It just wouldn't be a rational choice.
edit: I just want to add in that the EU pumps an enormous amount of money on the Erasmus scheme. If you're not in the know the idea is to get kids in college in one country to do a year of the course in another country in Europe. The only real goal of this is to make people realise that they're just like everyone else in Europe so we never have an internal war again and it is (along with a few other bits) the best money the EU spends IMO.
I will not be going back there until shit calms down.
Don't expect it for a long time. You talk about the Erasmus to teach people they're just like everyone else to prevent an internal war.
Here in the states, I honest to god cannot see how our two sides can come to a peaceful resolution and that terrifies me.
There is no means to a peaceful resolution when one side actively dreams of genociding or enslaving half the other side
I know folks in Georgia, S. Carolina, and N. Carolina who've never been more than a couple hours drive from their birthplace in their entire lives.
It's not the "immigration agenda", it's the "illegal captivity and deportations".
Nah, couldn't be the illegal imprisonment and torture random citizens and tourists have been experiencing.
I really wanted to visit this year to for the first time, but instead I'm going to Canada and I'm really excited!
Just a warning: both nations are huge, and depending on where you go you’ll have a very different experience.
Generally in Canada, the colder the climate, the warmer the people, so you have to decide how much you value both.
Welcome! Hope you have a lovely time!
Looking forward to seeing you round here, eh!
Just imagine a legal tourist in the US gets their wallet stolen.
Once, when people in the US had rights, he would contact the police, who would help him getting in contact with the embassy.
Where would the tourist end up nowadays? In Gitmo? Or a South American prison?
*Central American prison.
Initially some American prison then deported to some random country based on what he appeared to be to the racist in command in charge of making this decision
Is this what Project 2025 wants to happen? I heard 42% of their goals have already been implemented. Do they think that isolationism and going back to unilateral, strong armed foreign policy will work? And I thought the Nazis were really stupid...oh wait...
Only 9% decrease? That sounds pretty optimistic.
I’d guess it will be more like 50%. Guess we’ll see.
People book vacations like that well in advance. So there’s a time delay between the bookings and drop. Yesterday I read an article about Dutch travel agencies seeing far less bookings for US holidays. In january they saw a 20 percent drop, but they didn’t have February figures yet.
So by the end of this year, the tourism decrease will likely be much higher.
I mean, it's only been 2 months. 9% drop vs 5% gain is a 14% shift from expected. That's impressive, and Trump administration is just getting started.
What I’m interested in is what this does to the international conference scene. I can’t imagine many of them will be hosted in the US this year, even if the event was already booked.
Who in their right mind would want to visit to US at this moment? It's a clusterf*ck and even with a visa and a return ticket you could be detained.
Sometimes they detain people as they are trying to leave the US.
True!
Man, I was going to go to a wedding there that was super important to me but now I'm SO torn.
That's a shame! I can understand you're torn about it
None of the researchers in my lab go to conferences in the US anymore (there is remote participation since covid).
bring a dozen eggs and give one to each ICE agent you encounter along the way
bring a dozen eggs and give one to each ICE agent you encounter along the way
As long as you "give" them somewhat percussively. If ICE is gonna detain you no matter what, make it count!
Kill them while you’re at it.
What about their threats to a G7 ally? Does that contribute to the dropoff too?
A 9% reduction seems low. I'm curious to know emigration numbers (I'm getting out of here myself)
Most of the trips that have happened in February and March were planned and often paid for before that time and couldn't easily be changed or cancelled so many went ahead. There will be a continuing drop off. Airlines are reassigning their planes because so few Canadians are booking trips to the USA, even as a stopover to anther country. Some border businesses have already lost 50% or more of their business.
it's only been 2 months
50% of U.S. tourists come from Canada and Mexico.
Not anymore, Canada has its elbows up.
On Friday there was a meeting at work where everyone insisted that they will not go to the US office anymore.
I am starting to wonder how Americans would vote now if trump allows another election?
Trump supporters continue to vote red despite decisions effecting their lives in profound ways.
Look at the anti-vax response after their own child dies of a preventable disease. It's moronic.
Just wait a bit more. The real pain has not yet set in. Wait until they have to decide whether to keep their mom alive or feed their children. It won't take long.
I’m pretty sure we all know how everyone would vote if given the chance to do it again. I only wish those that didn’t would have the humility it takes to admit they made a huge mistake.
Are y'all ignoring that he has a 54% approval rating last I saw? Americans want this. Those of us who don't are going to be systematically silenced and eliminated.
That's looking increasingly like a big "if", unless you mean a Russian style election.
It wouldn't matter how people vote. Trump and Musk will be controlling the results.
I live in a red state. We have a method of voting individual bills into our constitution as a majority process.
We have voted in a reform to get big money out of our politics. The Republican majority in the state forced another vote with the most obfuscated language to get the state to overturn it. We have voted time and time again against Right to Work which is an anti-union bill. The Republicans have constantly tried to get it to happen. St Louis managed to get its police out from under State control, leaving Kansas City the only state in the nation with the state controlling the cities police... until the Republican ran state forced St. Louis back under its control.
We voted in a higher minimum wage and guarantees for sick leave. We also voted in protections for abortions overturning the harshest ban in the state. These were overwhelming majorities. We as a state also overwhelmingly voted Republicans in, who have just overturned the min wage and sick leave bill, and are trying to figure out how to overturn the abortion protections.
So if we had a COMPLETELY free and fair election. I guarantee you, at least the portion of the country I'm in, would still vote for anything with an (R) next to their name.
I won't be bringing my non-USA citizen family to the USA for a holiday for at least the next 4 years. Even with a perfectly good visa, folks are getting detained. In the past I would spend more than $10k for roughly a month long visit on them (not including airfare to the USA). That money will now go to the EU or Japan.
Too bad they are loosing this easy and pleasurable source of income with lots of jobs that do not require a college education but can pay very well, if done right. I am a traveled European and worked and lived all over the world, and visited the United States for business and pleasure several times. There are many amazingly beautiful places to see, as long as you avoid the big cities. Immigration services at the customs where always nerve-wracking with their intimidating questions, but I see that now as a necessary good thing, seeing the influx of immigrants in my own continent. It has been some time I decided never to go back because of the social problems, but the Everglades, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Redwood trees in California are engraved in my memories for ever.
Hah, not intentionally. There are (or at least used to be), a lot of US folks who used to go there to drink since the age is 21 in the US. That's dangerous, I suppose.
Coming in May myself, anything I should know about how best to behave and handle interactions at the airport to get through safe and quick?
Make sure: you have the correct visa, know the address you are staying at, have an exit flight and can prove you have enough money to fund your trip, you can explain the purpose of your trip, prepare to surrender social media passwords and have nothing remotely critical of Trump or the US on it and you have no suspicious contacts. Prepare to have your privacy invaded.
Encrypt your laptop, turn off face unlock and don't let them unlock your devices.
Unless you go as far as having hidden partitions with a fake benign fascade this isnt good enough. How it goes is they plug your laptop into their forensics software, it reports encryption, they say unlock the encryption, you say no, they deny your entry and confiscate your hardware.
The only way I know of is to format a clean laptop and burner phone with nothing on it and put all your necessary work files in the cloud so you can get them back after getting to your hotel -- and even then I've heard people denied because it was clear the machine was formatted too recently and they suspected people trying to do this trick and they dont like tricks.
so your burner laptops and phone have to look "lived in" but still benign. It's much easier just to video chat whatever business youre trying to get done in the usa, and if you're a tourist there are lots of better places to go anyway.
Get travel insurance too!