US Losing International Visitors as American Tourism Continues to Struggle
Mount Rushmore, one of the United States’ best-known tourist attractions. CC0
The United States has almost everything a successful travel destination could ask for: world-famous cities, spectacular national parks, beaches, legendary road trips and a tourism infrastructure capable of accommodating many millions of visitors every year. Yet the country has been losing international visitors for some time – against the global trend.
On September 2, President Donald Trump met representatives of major airlines, hotel groups and other tourism companies at the White House. The meeting, which was also documented by the White House, focused on an unusually specific question: how can the United States attract more international visitors again?
The expected recovery has yet to materialise
2026 was supposed to be an exceptional year for US tourism. The FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 250th anniversary of the United States and the centenary of Route 66 created a combination of major events that could hardly have been planned more favourably.
So far, however, the figures tell a different story. According to the latest data, international visitor numbers through July 2026 were around 4.7 percent below the previous year’s level.
That is particularly striking because the US travel industry had expected a recovery in 2026. As recently as spring, the U.S. Travel Association forecast a 3.4 percent increase in international arrivals to 70.6 million.
Current official visitor statistics are published by the US National Travel and Tourism Office through its I-94 Arrivals Program.
Nor is the current decline simply the result of one weak summer. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the number of international visitors to the United States already fell by 5.5 percent in 2025. Spending by foreign visitors declined by 4.6 percent to around $176 billion.
We analysed the emerging trend earlier this year in our detailed report USA Summer 2026: Is the Trip Still Worth It?. The weakness identified then has not disappeared.
The world is travelling – but not necessarily to the United States
That is the real problem. This is not a general crisis in international tourism.
According to the WTTC, around 80 million more international trips were made worldwide in 2025 than in the previous year. At the same time, the number of foreign visitors to the United States declined. North America was also the weakest-performing world region, with travel and tourism growth of only around one percent.
The United States is therefore losing market share in a growing global market.
The American travel industry itself is now openly addressing the issue. The U.S. Travel Association points out that the United States has lost around 41 percent of its share of the global long-haul travel market since 2000. In 2025, around 68 million international visitors entered the country.
For a country of the size and tourism importance of the United States, that is not a dramatically low figure in itself. The more worrying factor is the direction of travel.
Why are international visitors staying away?
There is no single explanation. Several factors overlap.
The United States has become expensive. Hotels, restaurants, rental cars, admission charges and additional costs can make a US holiday considerably more expensive than it once was. Airfares can also be high. For European travellers in particular, a two-week trip to the United States increasingly competes with long-haul holidays in Asia or several trips within Europe.
Entering the country can feel more complicated. The Visa Waiver Program remains in place for German travellers. For ordinary tourist visits of up to 90 days, an approved ESTA together with the required passport is generally sufficient. Nevertheless, electronic checks, data collection and entry requirements have become more extensive.
We have summarised the current requirements for German travellers in our guide USA Entry 2026: ESTA Rules, Fees and Formalities. A broader overview is available in Travel Documents and Visa Requirements 2026.
For visitors from countries that do not participate in the Visa Waiver Program, the situation can be considerably more difficult. The US travel industry has complained about waiting times of several months for visa interviews in important source markets.
There is also another factor that is more difficult to quantify: the country’s image. Political disputes, debates about entry requirements and a border policy increasingly perceived as restrictive can influence travel decisions even when an individual tourist is unlikely to encounter any practical difficulties.
The decline is particularly pronounced among visitors from Canada, where numbers have recently been around 20 percent lower. Relations between the two countries have become heavily politicised in recent months.
The industry wants 100 million international visitors
The fact that the White House is now involved illustrates the economic significance of the issue.
The US travel industry wants to increase international visitor numbers from around 68 million most recently to 100 million a year over the longer term.
International travellers are particularly valuable because, on average, they stay much longer and spend considerably more than domestic US tourists. The U.S. Travel Association estimates average spending by an overseas visitor at around $4,000 per trip.
This is not only about hotels in New York, Las Vegas or Miami. International visitors also support airline routes, car rental companies, restaurants, museums, tourism services and jobs throughout the major national park regions.
Despite its problems, the United States remains the world’s largest travel and tourism market. According to WTTC calculations, the sector contributed around $2.63 trillion to the US economy in 2025. That makes the weakness of international inbound tourism particularly noticeable.
Are Europe and Asia benefiting?
The US figures do not mean that former America-bound travellers are automatically switching to Spain, France or Japan. Travel decisions are far too diverse for such a simple conclusion.
What is clear, however, is that international competition for travellers has intensified. Anyone who once automatically considered New York, Florida, California or a road trip through the American West can now choose from a wide range of easily accessible alternatives.
Japan is among the fastest-growing long-haul destinations. Within Europe, regions offering safety, straightforward entry procedures, good transport links and relatively short travel times are also benefiting.
Even climate change is influencing demand. The growing trend towards “coolcations” in Northern Europe is one example.
Our overview The World as a Travel Destination in 2026 also shows how differently established destinations are currently developing.
Should travellers avoid the United States?
No. Falling visitor numbers do not mean that travelling to the United States has become inherently problematic.
For German holidaymakers with a valid passport, approved ESTA and a clear tourist purpose, travelling to the United States remains perfectly feasible. National parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, cities including New York and San Francisco, and the classic American road trip have lost none of their appeal.
The general conditions, however, need to be calculated more carefully than in the past. Entry requirements are now as much a part of travel planning as hotel prices, rental-car costs, insurance and the considerable distances within the country.
The decline in visitor numbers therefore does not mean that the United States has suddenly ceased to be an attractive travel destination. It shows instead that even one of the best-known destinations in the world can no longer take international visitors for granted.
If other countries appear easier to reach, more affordable or simply less complicated, travellers today have plenty of alternatives.
And that is precisely the problem facing American tourism.