We did our bit for US tourism by flying to California during the Christmas break. We dumped more than $7000 into the American economy during our week there. The numbers are in for 2025 and the United States is missing out on a key stream of foreign revenue. It was estimated that the economic impact of reduced travel to the United States in 2025 was $19 billion dollars less than in the previous year. This was reportedly mostly driven by a decline in arrivals from Canada and Europe.
The World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that the contribution of the global tourism industry in 2025 was equivalent to 10.3% of global gross domestic product. Tourism spending grew at twice the pace of economic growth. So when international tourism declines, the impact significantly erodes US GDP.
You could say this is a direct effect of Trump’s America First policy.