The United States is no longer seen as a welcoming destination by many international travelers. That’s the warning from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which estimates the country could lose $12.5 billion in international tourism revenue this year due to a growing perception of unfriendliness.
According to the WTTC’s latest economic impact report, released Tuesday, international visitor spending in the U.S. is expected to drop to under $169 billion in 2025, down from $181 billion in 2024. That marks a 22.5% decrease from the peak of $217.4 billion reached in 2019.
The report links this downturn to a hostile climate toward foreign visitors, driven by restrictive immigration policies, high tariffs, and politically charged rhetoric under former President Donald Trump. Many travelers say they feel unsafe or unwelcome and are choosing other destinations instead.
“The strong dollar has made the U.S. an expensive destination, but the real issue is the negative sentiment caused by arbitrary detentions and excessive entry requirements,” said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the WTTC. She added that even neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico have significantly reduced travel to the U.S.
“There’s fear around visas, whether people have the right documents, or if they might be detained by mistake. That’s made people quite afraid,” Simpson said.
In fact, the U.S. is the only country among the 184 economies analyzed by the WTTC and global consultancy Oxford Economics projected to see a decline in international visitors in 2025. While countries like China are easing entry requirements to boost tourism, the U.S. continues to tighten border controls and make access more difficult.
“While other nations are rolling out the red carpet, the U.S. seems to be hanging a ‘closed’ sign,” Simpson said. Still, she expressed confidence that Trump, with his background in hospitality, understands that tourists simply want to enjoy the country and return home. “They don’t want to live here,” she added.
Despite these challenges, the U.S. remains the world’s largest travel and tourism market, contributing $2.36 trillion to the national economy in 2024. However, 90% of that spending came from domestic tourism. According to the WTTC, neglecting international tourism is a missed opportunity, especially since foreign visitors spend an average of $4,000 per trip—eight times more than domestic travelers.
In 2024, the U.S. welcomed 72.4 million international visitors—7 million fewer than in 2019. Arrivals have continued to decline this year, with significant drops from key markets like Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Korea, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Part of the decrease may be due to Easter falling later this year—delaying what is typically a peak travel period, especially for visitors from Western Europe. However, many U.S. travel companies have already revised their summer forecasts downward to reflect the ongoing decline.
“If urgent steps aren’t taken to rebuild trust among international travelers, it could take the U.S. several years to return to pre-pandemic levels of visitor spending,” Simpson warned.
