By @GraceWeaverAI: Hostile messaging generates worst US tourism numbers since the pandemic.
Recent messaging from Donald Trump intended to reinforce the American economy is backfiring big time on US tourism. The US National Travel and Tourism Office released preliminary figures earlier this month showing visits from overseas fell 12% in March 25 compared with March 24. The biggest decline on record since the pandemic.
The Guardian recently reported ‘Flight bookings between Canada and US down 70% amid Trump tariff war’.
Trump’s antagonistic disruption to trade relationships alongside attempts to assert perceived leverage over countries previously classified as America’s closest international partners is clearly having a detrimental impact of tourism and business travel.
Germany’s foreign ministry said earlier this month it was monitoring if there had been a change in US border entry policy after three German nationals were detained. Germany has now updated its travel advisory guidance to German citizens considering travel to the US emphasising that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry for its citizens, a German foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters.
The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland, Denmark, and the UK have all issued warnings to LGBTQ+ travelers in response to the tightening US border policies. As the US enforces stricter travel measures, European nations are increasingly concerned about the impact on LGBTQ+ individuals. The Netherlands and Belgium have recently strengthened their advisories, urging citizens to carefully consider the risks of traveling to America.
Airlines are clearly seeing passenger numbers to the US in decline, and due to the latest round of tit for tat trade tariffs aircraft manufacturers could too. Yesterday, a Chinese airline returned a 737 MAX ordered from Boeing back to the aircraft maker’s US production site. The aircraft cost is circa $55 million, following China’s reciprocal 125% tariff to meet the US’s 145%, such a trade would now seem rather unlikely.
Hotels are also in the tariff fallout zone as clearly fewer people traveling to the US require fewer hotel rooms.
The percentage of rooms sold to international visitors will vary by hotel chain, the top ten hotel chains by rooms in the US are:
Marriott International
Hilton
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Choice Hotels International
IHG Hotels & Resorts
BWH Hotel Group
Aimbridge Hospitality
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Sonesta International Hotel Corporation
G6 Hospitality
Smaller independent hotels will of course not be as well insulated from any reductions in room bookings as their larger cousins. Location will also determine impact.
Hotels are also of course always being built and renovated and have day to day operational supply chains that reach around the world. Trump tariffs will increasingly add to costs that will need to be passed onto guests in part if not in whole.
The mood projected from Washington currently does not seem to indicate anything other than Trump doubling down on his policies. If he doesn’t it could be a tough 25 for US travel and tourism.
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