The Trump effect harms tourism in the US.

International tourists stopped at US borders. Imposition of strong tariffs on commercial partners.

Threats against allies of a lifetime.

The avalanche of controversial policies and statements of the government of Donald Trump In recent weeks it is causing tourists from all over the world to cancel or reconsider their trips to the United States.

An increasing number of visitors claim that they do not feel welcome or feel insecure, and they have no desire to support the economy of a country that, according to some foreign officials, is freeing commercial wars and destabilizing their allies.

A draft of a new prohibition of traveling through the government could restrict entry into the United States to citizens of up to 43 countries including Belarus, Cambodia and Santa Lucia.

“So many Americans want to flee the tense and toxic environment that reigns in their country.

Why would someone want to visit, especially now, with all arbitrary arrests in migration? ”Mallory Henderson said, a 53 -year -old marketing consultant who lives in London.

Although he usually visits the United States twice a year, this time he canceled a trip to visit his brother and his niece in Boston during Holy Week.

“It is a very hostile and scary moment, and frankly, there are many other welcoming and pleasant places to which I can go to meet my family,” he said.

Even before the change of government in January, the American travel sector was struggling to recover from the pandemic, mainly due to the strength of the dollar, which for foreign travelers to visit, and the long waiting times of the visas.

It was not expected that the number of international visitors arrived would reach the levels of 2019 until later this year, and it is not expected that the expenditure of foreign visitors will be fully recovered until 2026according to the US Travel Association.

But travel experts say that now these expectations can still be more difficult to achieve.

The research company Tourism Economics He had initially planned that travel to the United States would grow 9 percent this year, but in February he updated their forecasts, waiting for incoming trips They will decrease 5.1 percent and the hotel demand 0.8 percent in 2025, which is equivalent to a drop of 18,000 million dollars in expenses.

Much of the descent is due to Boicot of Canadian travelers.

In February, after President Trump announced tariffs for Canada, the number of Canadians who crossed the border by car fell 24 percent compared to the same period of 2024.

Airlines are responding to uncertainty.

Some, such as Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, cut their financial forecasts for the first months of the year, citing the weakness of travel spending.

Scott Kirby, executive director of United Airlines, said the company had reduced the frequency of numerous routes to Canada due to a “great fall in Canadian traffic” to the United States.

Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, said:

“It is expected that the negative change in the feeling will be maintained due to a changing mixture of Trump government factors, such as geopolitical frictions around commercial and national security policies, incendiary rhetoric and confrontation positions.”

“It is also expected that border security and immigration policies of great visibility and execution measures discourage visits,” he added.

The uncertainty in the American border has led several countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, to update their travel warnings to the United States, highlighting that visa exemption does not guarantee entry into the country and that foreign visitors suspected of violating the entry standards could be arrested or arrested at the border.

Warnings occur after a series of arrests in American entry ports that affected foreign tourists and permanent residence card holders.

This month, the French authorities said that the entrance to a French scientist refused because his telephone, who was examined upon arrival, contained personal opinions about Trump’s government policies.

The US authorities denied him, saying that the fact that he was not allowed entry was not linked to his “political beliefs.”

Europe’s tour operators have not yet reported large waves of cancellations at the Canada scale, where many residents are boycotting trips to the United States, but a growing number of travelers is rethinking their spring and summer plans.

Eric Dresin, general secretary of the European Associations of Travel and Turoperators Agencies, said they are expected “Turbulent times”, Especially if more countries are affected by changes in US policies.

Arrivals in the United States from Western Europe fell one percent in February, after increasing 14 percent in the same period of the previous year, according to preliminary data from the National Office of American Travel and Tourism.

Christoph Bartel, a 28 -year -old German citizen who lives in Norway, had planned a trip to Arizona this summer to visit national parks.

Last week he canceled his plans in response to the dismissal of employees of the national parks by the Trump government and the revocation of environmental regulations.

“It doesn’t seem good to support the US economy when the president is causing so much sabotage,” Bartel said.

“It is disappointing to leave a special trip that we plan for months, but instead we will go to Canada the Mexico”.

After Canada and Mexico, the United Kingdom is where the largest number of visitors to the United States comes from, with almost four million last year.

Travel agencies are noticing a division between customers who frequently visit the United States and are not allowed to deter by the political climate and those who are looking for alternative destinations in response to political changes.

The high cost of visiting the United States after the pandemic also seems to be taking its toll.

“It was always considered that the United States offered a very good value for money,” said Alan Wilson, managing director of Bon Voyage Travel & Tours, a British company specialized in trips to the United States and Canada.

Together with the strength of the dollar, hotels have also risen, and high tips are a problem for many visitors.

“The British market hates the culture of 20 percent of tip, and the way in which the United States always has a stretched hand waiting for the next tip,” he said.

“They prefer to pay the money in advance.”

Wilson said his company had registered a 5 percent decrease in reserves for the United States this year, compared to the same period of the previous year, but that he did not expect that figure to change much to summer, since most customers have already reserved itineraries with several destinations in the United States, confirmed with a year in advance.

In places like New York, Florida and Californiathe crisis is affecting small travel companies, who expected optimism that 2025 brought growth.

Luke Miller, owner of the Real New York Tours family business, said his business was being decimated after lots of visitors, mainly Canadians, canceled after Trump’s announcement about tariffs.

“Twenty buses full of older people just canceled the trips they had scheduled.

There are thousands of dollars of losses for my small business, ”said Miller, adding that he is receiving cancellations even for winter holidays and has no European reservations this summer, his second largest market after Canada.

He described the “heartbreaking” situation.

Important destinations such as New York and California are intensifying their marketing efforts to ensure international tourists who are welcome.

Visit California, the State Tourism Agency, updated this month its global spending forecasts of visitors in 2025 from 166,000 million dollars to 160,000 million dollars, after the slowdown in the growth of international travelers and devastating forest fires in Los Angeles in January.

“The good news is that, thanks to the solid brand of California in the world scene, international visitors continue to show a great affinity for the golden state,” said Caroline Beteta, president of the agency, in a statement.

New York has had similar messages.

In relation to the expense of visiting the city, Julie Coker, president of New York City Tourism+ Conventions, said it was possible to visit it with a small budget, and that the marketing organization would highlight those opportunities.

“This is an excellent opportunity to highlight the other districts and parts of New York outside of Manhattan that are equally vibrant and have incredible culinary, artistic and cultural experiences,” he said, he said, adding that New York had already faced obstacles in the past and trusted to be able to achieve their goal of recovering international spending by 2026 despite the current difficulties.

Miller, of Real New York Tours, is not convinced. He said that if the reservations did not rebound this summer, he would have to consider saying goodbye to the staff.

“The reality is that we are the most affected and may not survive,” he said.