U.S. Economy Set To Lose $12.5 Billion in International Traveler Spend in 2025

[CalGalTraveler]

U.S Economy Set To Lose $12.5BN In International Traveler Spend this year

Read WTTC's press release to learn more.

wttc.org

 

[Rolltydr]

U.S Economy Set To Lose $12.5BN In International Traveler Spend this year

Read WTTC's press release to learn more.

wttc.org

 

[Hindsite]

Would be interesting to see where the money is going instead

 

[pedro47]

Does these numbers include travel to the states of Hawaii and Alaska by foreigners ?

 

[Rolltydr]

I would assume so since the data is for the United States and the article does not say otherwise. Pretty sad to have that large a drop so quickly.

 

[TUGBrian]

then the article goes on to indicate 90% of all US tourism spending comes from domestic tourists, not international.

odd it didnt mention if domestic travel spending was up or down, and given the intended slant of the article im guessing if it were down they would have mentioned that especially since it did indicate US domestic vacations hit "record numbers in 2024" =)

 

[PigsDad]

Does these numbers include travel to the states of Hawaii and Alaska by foreigners ?

Last I've heard, Hawaii and Alaska are part of the United States, and therefore part of the US economy. Don't know why anyone would think otherwise.

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

Completely antidotal data point, but I just spent a week up in Minnesota lake / resort country, and there were far fewer people out and about at restaurants, etc. vs. when we were there the same week last year. Didn't run into any Canadians like we usually do.

Kurt

 

[buzglyd]

If it comes from “experts,” expect the exact opposite to happen.

 

[pedro47]

Canadian are not traveling to the United States and they are not purchasing American goods . Especially American liquor..

 

[easyrider]

Would be interesting to see where the money is going instead

People are hunkering down because of inflation, political unrest and general uncertainty. One of the first things to eliminate from the budget in times like these are vacations, imo. I think everyone is just sitting on their money waiting for something to happen.

Bill

 

[moonstone]

Canadian are not traveling to the United States and they are not purchasing American goods . Especially American liquor..

Not all Canadians are avoiding the USA. We have our snowbird travel plans in place since we own a condo in FL we are not just going to abandon it. We are not alone judging by the comments on the many Snowbirds Facebook groups I belong to. When some folks question our decision to still head south, aside from our condo, I say if you can find me a place in Canada with temps every day, all winter, at or above 75F, I will consider staying in Canada. We do not do much shopping other than groceries while in Florida and we rarely eat out or go to any attractions so we wont be contributing too much to the local economy while we are there.

As for not purchasing American liquor -it isnt an option as it was pulled off the shelves in our liquor stores ages ago. Our grocery store shelves have lots of red maple leaf stickers by the price tags of all Canadian goods encouraging shoppers to buy Canadian.


~Diane

 

[Rolltydr]

Big difference between being an “expert” and qualified.

No doubt. It’s just that your comment indicated you don’t think we should listen to experts. Experts, by definition, know more about their particular field(s) than non-experts. I’m just curious as to why we shouldn’t listen to them. I’m 70 years old and have always understood that being an expert was a good thing. It sounds like you disagree?

 

[am1]

Not all Canadians are avoiding the USA. We have our snowbird travel plans in place since we own a condo in FL we are not just going to abandon it. We are not alone judging by the comments on the many Snowbirds Facebook groups I belong to. When some folks question our decision to still head south, aside from our condo, I say if you can find me a place in Canada with temps every day, all winter, at or above 75F, I will consider staying in Canada. We do not do much shopping other than groceries while in Florida and we rarely eat out or go to any attractions so we wont be contributing too much to the local economy while we are there.

As for not purchasing American liquor -it isnt an option as it was pulled off the shelves in our liquor stores ages ago. Our grocery store shelves have lots of red maple leaf stickers by the price tags of all Canadian goods encouraging shoppers to buy Canadian.


~Diane

Time to go island shopping for real.

 

[jeffox]

We have our snowbird travel plans in place since we own a condo in FL we are not just going to abandon it.

I think of this type situation different than folks taking a 1-2 week vacation. Those folks are going to Europe and Mexico. Folks with property are going to use what they own and unless they sell out there aren't other good options.

 

[WorldT]

I am not sure what the argument about experts is, the data is provided by the US department of commerce, US Customs (raw data available on the official website up to June 2025) and other entities that have been collecting and mining this data for years. In fact there are some bridges between USA and Canada that provide traffic statistics online and have been doing this for years.

There was a significant drop in international arrivals in March 2025 that has somewhat recovered but not fully. The peak (edited: post COVID peak) was in December 2024.. Overall the trend is lower arrivals this year but the full data from all sources is only available to May. We just ended July.

Domestic tourism has remained steady. The drop is from international visitors. The 12 billion USD is a full year projection but things can change.

12 billion should be put in perspective and compared to the total revenue from tourism. In other words, the tourism industry has not collapsed. That being said, $12 billion isn't small and the effect will be felt by those who depend heavily on foreign tourism. The effects will be vary by state too. The more dependent the state is on foreign tourism, the more the effect will be.

 

[TUGBrian]

Since we are discussing perspective...Its a fraction of a % of total tourism revenue. id guess hurricanes and earthquakes or other similar catastrophic events swing the scale more than that in any given year.

 

[Rolltydr]

I am not sure what the argument about experts is

It’s kind of the mentality that if you don’t like the data, you simply fire the statistician instead of listening to people who actually know what they’re doing.

 

[dioxide45]

It seems that US travel hasn't even reached pre-pandemic numbers?

, down from $181BN in 2024.

In 2019, international visitors generated $217.4BN in revenue

 

[jp10558]

My main interest is - could these drops in tourism (and apparently increased US tourists going international) - lead to something like the pandemic deals for us TS people still travelling? I already noticed significant hotel price drops for my recent trips, especially via the II Priceline integration (Country Inn and Suites at ~$80 after taxes for a night), but also on my Hilton Honors app with many hotels back around $125+ tax that had been more like $175+ only 12-18 months ago. Some of my checking showed non-event dates hotels in cities dropping from like $950 to $350 in the Hilton app... Of course I've also seen much higher event pegged dates than before, probably pushing double, but those are comparing to 2019.

So, are we going to get to sniff out deals again?

 

[Panina]

Friends, this is getting political with your references on both sides. You know the rules….

My take a projection is not an actual. Data can be made to project anything one wants by taking subsets and multiplying to anticipate the future or not looking at the whole picture… A small period of time does not mean it will continue the same way. How are other countries doing? Is inflation across the world making people travel less? Are certain area/attractions doing worse then others as traveling wants are different. I can go on and on but I believe I made my point.

 

[Makai Guy]

Numerous political posts, and responses to political posts have been removed.

 

[dioxide45]

Completely antidotal data point, but I just spent a week up in Minnesota lake / resort country, and there were far fewer people out and about at restaurants, etc. vs. when we were there the same week last year. Didn't run into any Canadians like we usually do.

Kurt

I think numbers will vary a lot by region. Some regions are more dependent on international travel more than others. The US northeast being one that relies on a lot of Canadian travelers. Other locations like Florida or the US coasts may not see as big of a drop because international travel is a much smaller percentage of overall tourism.

Then you have Las Vegas. Las Vegas was mentioned on the Marriott Vacations Worldwide second quarter earnings call and how occupancy was softer there vs other locations. Vegas has a different host of issues that may be impacting tourism volume there. I've seen some reports indicating that Vegas alone is what is dragging down overall US tourism numbers. They are down so much and have so many rooms that their drops are making the rest of the US numbers look flat.

 

[jp10558]

I think numbers will vary a lot by region. Some regions are more dependent on international travel more than others. The US northeast being one that relies on a lot of Canadian travelers. Other locations like Florida or the US coasts may not see as big of a drop because international travel is a much smaller percentage of overall tourism.

Then you have Las Vegas. Las Vegas was mentioned on the Marriott Vacations Worldwide second quarter earnings call and how occupancy was softer there vs other locations. Vegas has a different host of issues that may be impacting tourism volume there. I've seen some reports indicating that Vegas alone is what is dragging down overall US tourism numbers. They are down so much and have so many rooms that their drops are making the rest of the US numbers look flat.

HGV call as reported here also claimed Las Vegas is behind them missing estimates. I have seen other comments about Vegas being down in bookings, no idea if International is driving that or not. Some reports are just that there's now "too much" "gouging" on the strip for many to make it a weekend trip...

 

[davidvel]

HGV call as reported here also claimed Las Vegas is behind them missing estimates. I have seen other comments about Vegas being down in bookings, no idea if International is driving that or not. Some reports are just that there's now "too much" "gouging" on the strip for many to make it a weekend trip...

So far this calendar year, visitation is 7.3% lower than last year.

Travel from Canada has not returned to normal levels. Air Canada reported travelers had dropped 13.2% from May to June, and a year-over-year comparison showed totals a third lower in June.

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/las-vegas-strip/las-vegas-tourism-troubles-deepen-as-visitor-count-drops-11-3-in-june/