Trump Effect? Report Says U.S. Is Losing Foreign Tourists

The United States lost 4 million foreign visitors in 2025. Total international arrivals dropped from 72.3 million to 68.3 million, a 5.5% decline that made the U.S. the only major country in the world to record a fall in foreign tourism last year. The rest of the world saw international travel surge by 80 million people. There’s no pandemic to blame. No financial crash. But why is it happening?

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Worse Than the 2008 Recession, Short of Only the Pandemic

The 5.5% drop in foreign visitors to the U.S. in 2025 marks the sharpest single-year decline in two decades, with the sole exception of 2020, when Covid-19 shut down global travel entirely. In 2008, during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the drop was smaller. That comparison has alarmed economists and tourism researchers, because the usual culprits — recession, pandemic, major geopolitical conflict — are absent this time.

Tighter Borders, Stripped Budgets, and a Tourism Agency Cut by 80%

Several policy shifts compounded the decline. The Trump administration tightened visa procedures, required all foreign nationals staying over 30 days to register and submit fingerprints, and proposed requiring tourists to disclose social media histories before entry. Simultaneously, Brand USA, the only federal organization that markets the U.S. to international travelers, saw its funding slashed from $100 million to $20 million — an 80% cut. The agency was forced to lay off 15% of its staff and shut down programming.

46% of Travelers Said Trump Made Them Less Likely to Visit the U.S.

The deterrent was not only logistical. A Skift analysis found that 46% of international travelers said they were less likely to visit the United States in 2025 because of President Trump. Tariffs on allied nations, rhetoric about annexing Canada and Greenland, the launch of aggressive ICE enforcement, and a hostile atmosphere at border crossings all registered globally. Tourism Economics president Adam Sacks said the “sentiment drag” had proven severe, with airline booking data confirming that the slowdown persisted throughout the year.

Kayyem: Foreigners Now See “a Dysfunctional Government, ICE Raids, Crime Everywhere”

Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a CNN senior national security analyst, said America’s soft power is eroding in real time. According to Kayyem, the image being absorbed abroad is one of “a dysfunctional government, ICE raids, Americans being killed, crime everywhere.” She added: “We used to be a country that others wanted to emulate. That narrative no longer exists.” The long-term cost, she warned, goes far beyond lost hotel bookings.

$8.5 Billion in Visitor Spending Vanished

Foreign tourists who did visit the U.S. in 2025 spent more per person than in prior years. The overall numbers, however, overwhelmed that trend. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated a drop of $8.5 billion in international visitor spending compared to 2024. Tourism Economics placed the opportunity cost even higher: if arrivals had followed their pre-2025 trajectory, the U.S. would have collected roughly $25 billion more. For the first time since records began in 1999, the U.S. ran a travel trade deficit.

Canada’s Boycott Drove the Sharpest Drop

Canadians were historically the largest source of foreign tourists to the U.S., spending $20.5 billion and making 20.4 million visits in 2024. In 2025, official figures showed a roughly 25% drop in Canadian border crossings. Cell phone tracking data from the University of Toronto placed the real decline at closer to 42%. A 2026 Nanos Research survey found 43% of Canadians remained less likely to visit the U.S. that year. Experts say the boycott, which began with Trump’s tariffs and 51st-state rhetoric, has not lost momentum.

John Stewart Skipped the Indy 500 for the First Time in 35 Years

John Stewart of Golden Lake, Ontario, had attended the Indianapolis 500 every spring for roughly three decades, typically spending upward of $10,000 on the weeklong trip to reunite with American family. In 2025, he stayed home. Stewart told CNN he had reached an “ideological breakpoint,” driven not by any single grievance but by the cumulative weight of what he called a question of “what’s right and wrong.” His story echoed thousands of similar decisions made quietly across Canada that year.

Germany, France, Australia, India — the Drop Crossed Every Continent

Canada accounted for the bulk of losses, but the decline spanned the globe. Visitor numbers fell from Germany, France, India, Australia, Chile, and China. Mexico was a notable exception, adding roughly 1 million more visitors compared to 2024. Meanwhile, countries including Japan, Spain, and Italy absorbed travelers who redirected their plans. The U.S. was not competing in a shrinking market. It was losing ground in a booming one, as the only major destination globally to post a decline.

Recovery Projected No Earlier Than 2029

The National Travel and Tourism Office does not expect U.S. international visitor numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels before 2029. That forecast was issued before the Canadian boycott hardened into what researchers call a potential generational shift. The U.S. enters the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics with a damaged international brand, a gutted tourism marketing budget, and a global audience that has already begun choosing elsewhere. The infrastructure for a rebound exists. The political conditions for one, for now, do not.