Donald Trump’s nationalist rhetoric, his policy of and some isolated incidents on the border have caused fear in the tourism sector to a sharp fall in visits to the United States. Provisional figures show a turning point in the arrivals of tourists, students and business travelers. In the case of Spanish tourists, visits fell 32.5% in March, but 47.7% in April were fired, due to the different calendar of Holy Week. In the accumulated of the first four months, Spanish tourism in the United States grows 1.2% and, when they are considered students and work trips, the increase is 1.8%, according to the official data of the Department of Commerce.
Together, during the first four months of the year, 10.16 million visitors arrived in the United States from abroad (excluding Mexico and Canada, countries for which the United States carries a separate accounting), with a global fall of 0.2% and very different evolutions by countries. The figures until March showed a much greater fall, but were distorted by Holy Week.
There are, in any case, indications that Trump is frightening tourism. Of those 10.16 million visitors, 8.12 million were tourists, 1.1% less than between January and April 2024. The setback is not very large, but in January the growth was 7.1% and the sector expected a record year. with what most of the trips of that month occurred or were scheduled before their return to the White House.
The fall will be exacerbated by computing Canada’s figures, which contributes almost 28% of visitors. The decline in arrivals from the northern neighbor was already 9.8% in February and March and Canadian statistics show that it intensified in March and April. Last month, the return of residents in Canada after trips to the United States was reduced by 19.9% by air and 35.2% per car, automobile,
Trump has been especially hostile with Canada. And he has breached the commercial treaties he negotiated, imposing tariffs on his products. The attitude of the president of the United States with boycott calls for US products and to cancel vacations in that country. Airbnb detected that
In the choice of a tourist destination, there are many factors that come into play beyond its attractiveness, including exchange rates, the evolution of the economy of countries of origin, perceived hostility and even fear, so that it is difficult to establish patterns. In the Canadian case, the fall seems clearly due to Trump’s attitude and it is possible that they have also caused a 11% decrease in visits from Denmark.
On the contrary, perhaps that geopolitical pattern explains in part – by affinity with their governments – that the arrivals of tourists, workers and students from Argentina (+25.6%), Israel (+20.8%) and Italy (+9.9%) have triggered, although it is ventured to draw conclusions.
It is even more difficult to evaluate the role that fear can have in the evolution of tourism. The rejection on the border of a French scientist (according to France, according to the United States, over an American research center) and the prolonged arrests of the Germans Lucas Sielaff and Jessica Brösche on the border with Mexico were very popular. Total arrivals from France fall 8.3% (9.7% in the case of tourists) and from Germany, 7.1% (8.8% for tourists). And perhaps the xenophobic rhetoric, deportations and withdrawal of temporary protection status are deterring tourists from Haiti (-29%), Venezuela (-17.8%), Nicaragua (-22.9%) and other Latin American countries.
Among the 20 main countries (always excluded Mexico and Canada), arrivals increase by nine and go back to another 11. The greatest declines of that group correspond to Ecuador, South Korea and Chile. On the other hand, in addition to Argentina, Israel and Italy, more visitors from the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, China, Taiwan and Spain arrive.
In the Spanish case, official statistics show that arrivals increased 1.8% in the first four months, to 260,354. The bulk of the visitors were tourists: 210,887, with an increase of 1.2%, but what grew most were business trips (4.5%, to 37,804 tickets) and students (4.4%, up to 11,663).
Also in the Spanish case, something seems to have changed with Trump, as the arrival of tourists grew at a rate of 6.5% in January. Statistics measures the arrival of residents in Spain regardless of their nationality and the country from which they access. Most of the visits were logically by air (244,630), followed by land (9,494) and sea (4,809). The average age of Spanish visitors is 40.1 years and the favorite destinations are New York (75,028), Florida (62,163) and California (23,222).
Negative forecasts
The high season begins now and forecasts are negative for tourism in the United States. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)the world agency that represents the private sector of travel and tourism, estimates that the United States is on its way to losing “the amazing figure of 12.5 billion dollars in international visitors spending this year,” according to the WTCC therefore foresees that the expense of international visitors in the United States falls below 169,000 million dollars this year, compared to the more than 181,000 million of 2024.
According to the study, the United States is the only country of the 184 analyzed by the WTTC and Oxford Economics where a decrease in the expenditure of international visitors in 2025 is expected. “This is a call for attention for the United States government,” he said when presenting the Julia Simpson report, president and director of the WTTC. “The largest world economy in the travel sector and tourism is in the wrong direction, not due to lack of demand, but because of the lack of action. While other countries are deploying the red carpet, the United States government is hanging the ‘closed poster,” warned the one that was high directive of the IAG group.
“Without urgent measures to restore the confidence of international travelers, the United States could take several years to return to the expenditure levels of international visitors prior to the pandemic, not even to the maximums of 10 years ago. It is the growth of the US economy: it is feasible, but it requires leadership from Washington,” he added.
