Tourism in the United States: the decline in foreign travel and the Italian exception

It's a trend that could cost the US dearly: it's the fall in foreign tourism, a decisive item for the US economy after the end of restrictions due to the Covid pandemic triggered a revival of international travel. Helping to drive many potential travellers to other destinations are geopolitical tensions and an aggressive (if not downright hostile, with travellers arrested at the airport) attitude in the country's entry controls.

The first factor has affected the choices of Canadian tourists, as President Donald Trump has imposed punitive tariffs on his neighbours and explicitly suggested on several occasions that Canada should become the 51st state in the United States. The second factor is having an impact on the choices of travellers from Western Europe: a 17.2 per cent drop was recorded in March, according to data from the International trade administration (Ita).

A trend that also involves the Italy but with decidedly lower values: last month the number of Italians leaving for the 'States' was just over 80,000, just 3.4% less than in the same month of the previous year. If we extend the comparison to the first quarter of 2025, the numbers are unchanged in comparison to the period January-March 2024 (+0.3%).

Looking at the behaviour of other European travellers, one could say that the Italian tourist industry is not giving up travelling to the US of the Trump era for the time being. In March from Germany the drop was 28.3%, from Spain 24.6%, from Great Britain (first tourist source market after Canada) 14.6%, from France 8%.

In recent days Naren Shaam, CEO of travel booking site Omio, told the Financial times that cancellation rates for bookings to the US increased by 16 per cent in the first quarter, with the UK, Germany and France reaching 40 per cent.