Steep tariffs, travellers detained at borders, the firing of national park employees – since Donald Trump returned to the White House he has gone above and beyond in carrying out the hardline policies he promised on his campaign trail. And now he has followed through with his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, imposing a minimum baseline ten per cent trade tariff on every country, including Australia. This latest announcement compounds a growing list of issues affecting international tourists’ desire to travel to the US.
In recent weeks, travellers from all over the world, including the UK, Canada, Germany and France have repeatedly found themselves detained by immigration authorities at the US border. Among those detained is a French scientist who was denied entry after immigration officers at an airport found messages on his phone expressing critical personal opinions on Trump. US authorities have denied that the refusal to let the Frenchman into the country was tied to his political beliefs, however this and the many other detentions and rejections taking place across the country have sparked international suspicion that anyone with anti-Trump views is being turned away from the US.
The government asserts that US customs officers have the authority to stop and search anyone at entry points into the US without any cause of suspicion, including searches of cellphones and laptops. International visitors who refuse to be searched are at risk of being denied entry to the country. Nonprofit travel expert The Conversation is advising people to be cautious about the content on their devices, including political views.
Uncertainty at the border has already led several countries including Britain, Germany and Canada to update their travel advisories for the US, highlighting that a visa waiver does not guarantee entry into the country and that foreign visitors suspected of breaking entry rules could be detained or arrested at the border. Civil rights advocates also suggest that visitors into the US, especially those who are not citizens, bring information to call an immigration lawyer or emergency contact if they encounter problems.
ECTAA (The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations) secretary general Eric Drésin told CNN that Europeans have a very negative view of the political climate in the US at the moment. He described people as being “cautious”, and has already seen a 10-20 per cent decrease in bookings to the US since January, when Trump was inaugurated.
Many international tourists have cited the impact of President Trump’s policies and executive orders as reasons why they are rethinking their travel plans to the US. As an increasing number of people are being stopped, questioned and detained at US borders, people’s fear and anxiety at travelling to the country is growing and making them feel increasingly unwelcome and unsafe in the US. There is also a heightened reluctance of travellers to support the economy of a country that is perceived as destabilising its allies and waging trade wars.
Negative sentiment will impact tourism
While these policies have created fear amongst travellers and antipathy towards the US, they are also beginning to have a very real effect on the US tourism industry. Research firm Tourism Economics announced a significant drop in visitation — down about 15 per cent — and about a 12 per cent drop in revenue due to travellers choosing to boycott the US.
Tourism Economics president Adam Stokes told the New York Times “the negative sentiment shift is anticipated to be sustained by an evolving mix of Trump administration factors, including geopolitical friction on trade and national security policies, charged rhetoric and adversarial posturing”. He added “high visibility border security and immigration policies and enforcement actions are also expected to discourage visits.”
The US’ travel industry was already struggling to recover from the pandemic, mainly because of the strength of the dollar which makes it more expensive for foreign travellers to visit, and long visa wait times. The recent shift in attitude towards the US will likely see an even longer wait for US tourism to reach pre-pandemic levels. For the year through 22 March, spending on lodging services and tourism-related services was about 2.5 per cent below last year’s levels, while airline spending showed an even steeper decline of around 6 per cent.
United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby told the New York Times that the carrier had reduced the frequency of numerous routes to Canada because of a “big drop in Canadian traffic” into the US.
“The negative sentiment shift is anticipated to be sustained by an evolving mix of Trump administration factors, including geopolitical friction on trade and national security policies, charged rhetoric and adversarial posturing,” he said.
The Skift Travel Health Index, which tracks performance for bookings from data partner Skyscanner, indicated a slightly softening trend in February 2025, showing a one per cent decline in travel performance relative to February 2024. According to Saniya Zanpure, an analyst at SKIT Research, this is the first year-on-year decline registered since the industry recovered from the pandemic.
With further fallout expected following the signing of Trump’s executive orders, the travel trade world is holding its collective breath for more to come.
What does this mean for tourism? Trump tariffs dent relationship between Australia and US
