With Trump fewer foreign tourists coming to the US but Italia remains an exception

Holidays in the United States of the Trump era are less fashionable but from Italia the passion for the stars and stripes does not go away. A few days ago Unwto released its assessment of global tourism trends for 2025: international arrivals grew by 4 per cent as most destinations around the world performed well. With one notable exception: the United States. In the first year of Donald Trump's second term in the White House, the US suffered a 5.4% setback over 2024 (data through November) which, in absolute terms, meant 3.560 million fewer foreign visitors. With an impact on the economy: as the website of the US Department of Commerce's National Travel and Tourism Office reminds us, 'forty international visits supports one job'. According to Wttc data, foreign tourist spending in the States dropped 6.9% in 2025 with a loss of $12.5 billion. 2026 could mark a recovery thanks to the World Cup (11 June-9 July), which the US will host together with Mexico and Canada.

The Canada weighs heavily (a case in point: -21.7%), only partly offset by Mexico (+8.8%), while in Europe Trumpian America attracts less (-2.6%). A disaffection linked to many factors. There is certainly a more stringent system of entry controls that was further strengthened at the end of last year: in fact, since 26 December, the new rules imposed by the Trump administration have come into force, which envisage a new system of biometric data collection with facial recognition, fingerprints and in some cases DNA. The images collected are compared with the data on file and stored for a period of 75 years. and that's not all: the US could require tourists from dozens of countries to provide their last five years' social media history as a condition for entering the US. A measure that should apply to travellers who can visit the States for 90 days under the Esta (Electronic system for travel authorisation).

The United States has also become a less desirable destination for other reasons: the trade war unleashed by Trump and his fierce immigration policy may have weighed on travellers' choices to avoid the States. Then there are the countries in the US president's crosshairs: 'I want to make Canada the 51st state,' the White House chief recently reiterated. The response has been a boycott: 4.071 million fewer Canadians crossed the border during 2025 (the December figure is missing) than during the same period the previous year. Affected, as reported by the Reuters news agency, will be Disney's amusement parks: in 2024 Canada was the largest market for visitors to Orlando, home of Walt Disney World, with a record 1.2 million visitors. Now many Canadian fans of Mickey Mouse's world may prefer Paris to Florida. Disney has already warned of a possible decline in foreign visitors to its parks.

The European numbers are less negative, but still mark a retreat. Two examples taken from large markets: from Germany in 2024 almost two million visitors left for the States; in 2025 the number dropped by 11%. Same trend from France: 1.589 million French landed in the US, 6.82% less than in the previous 12 months. And Italia? In contrast to the European average (-3.7% until November), it has made an advance with the number of our compatriots who chose the United States touching 1.2 million (+5.25%).

"The Italia market maintains a historical and cultural bond with the United States that goes beyond mere tourism dynamics. The myth of the on-the-road, wide open spaces and iconic cities continues to exert a strong appeal for the Italia context. In addition, the still central role of travel agencies in Italia helps to sustain the destination: professional advice helps to reassure and guide the customer in a more complex phase," explains Liberato Esposito, product manager USA and Canada at Idee per Viaggiare. "In 2025 we experienced a slight drop in bookings for the US for the summer period. On the other hand, we have actually registered a great interest in travel to the USA over the Easter and long weekends period: numbers that, overall, ensured a trend in line with the previous year".