The US is expected to lose around $30 billion in international tourism this year, as the country’s political environment and strong dollars continue to block visits.
In early 2025, the American Travel Association predicts that foreign travel spending will increase to $200.8 billion this year.
However, the World Travel & Tourism Council in May is projected to reduce international visitors spending to $169 billion a year, as it reached a “sharp and widespread” arrival.
Lost income is set to benefit other countries, particularly Canada and Latin America, as travelers decide to search for other destinations and stay within their country or region.
Neighboring countries
According to the US International Trade Agency, Canada’s arrivals to the United States fell nearly 18% per year in the first half of 2025, representing over 1,750,000 visits.
According to real estate data provider Costar, many Canadians are looking to travel domestically, pushing the domestic hotel occupancy to 77.6%. The government reported this week, “Canada Strong Pass” – a summer tourism initiative marked as a celebration of the country’s strength and unity – has encouraged an increase in visits to Canadian museums, historic sites and national parks.
Other Canadians fly away rather than the US and continue to venture south, according to research firm Tourism Economics.
“We see more Canadians heading towards Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Adam Sachs, the company’s president.
Reservation Holdings data shows Canadians increasingly select Mexico as their destination, a representative told CNBC Travel.
According to consulting firm Accenture, Latin America is also attractive to more travelers from Europe. The region and the Caribbean are attracting Europeans looking for US alternatives, the representative said.
“New Travel Hallway”
In an email to CNBC, a representative from Reservation Holdings said the company was seeing a “new travel corridor” appearing.
In particular, Western Europeans are increasingly traveling within the region, as well as the Middle East, adding bags of tourism economics.
Michael Dykes, vice president of market management for the Asia-Pacific region, said more Asian travelers are also looking for trips to Europe and the Middle East this year.
A CNBC survey of 6,000 Southeast Asian international travelers conducted by Milieu Insight said that among those reconsidering travel to the US, most of them are planning to travel to the Southeast or East Asia, followed by Europe and Oceania.
Singapore traveler Rahul Jain told CNBC Travel that he has already booked a trip to Australia this year and is currently considering going to the UK or France.
“Europe is still attractive to me,” he said. However, he added that the United States is “not on my list.”
Few tourists
Government data shows that in the first half of 2025, the US was welcomed with around 1 million fewer international visitors compared to the same period in 2024.
However, compared to 2019, there are still good progress with 13 million international visitors by the end of the year, Sacks said.
At the same time, travel arrivals are increasing to other countries.
“The countries that are projected to witness the greatest benefits of international visits compared to 2019 are Spain, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he said.
As other markets developed and new markets fell into conflict, the US global international travel share fell from 8.4% in 1996 to 4.9% in 2024, Sachs said.
According to tourism economics data, US cross-border travel shares fell in the early 2000s, falling levels down, and another hit during President Donald Trump’s first term.
This year, it is expected to fall again, predicting that the US share of global international arrivals will fall to 4.2%, Sacks said. And it is expected to remain at that level for the next decade, he said.
“The US is losing its share again in 2025,” Sachs said. “We don’t expect to recover that share within the forecast horizon.”
Meanwhile, the arrival of other top tourist draws, including France, Greece, Mexico and Italy, is expected to increase this year.
This shows “how disastrous this was for the United States compared to competing destinations.”
