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Recent reports of Western travellers being arrested and detained for trying to legally enter the US will likely cause a disastrous drop in the country’s tourism, experts say
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 08 Apr 2025
Experts predict that the US will experience a 9% decrease in tourism in 2025 Credit: Canva
The ‘polarising Trump Administration policies and rhetoric’ have seen a downturn in US tourism from a projected 5% increase to a 9% decrease in 2025.
The latest figures, forecast by global travel data company Tourism Economics, could result in a US$64bn (€60bn, £50bn) loss to the US tourism economy with an additional 11% decrease in foreign tourist spending, totalling a further loss of US$18.8bn (€17.4bn, £14.6bn).
In addition to President Donald Trump’s attempts to put “America first”, recent reports of the arrest and detention of travellers trying to legally enter the US could also be to blame, with increased uncertainty in visitor safety potentially leading to “dire consequences” for the US tourism industry.
“There’s been a dramatic shift in our outlook,” Tourism Economics president Adam Sacks told The Washington Post.
“You’re looking at a much weaker economic engine than what otherwise would’ve been, not just because of tariffs, but the rhetoric and condescending tone around it.”
Speaking to Fast Company, Sacks added: “The issue for holiday travelers is that they have a choice of when and where to travel. This ultimate discretion means that antipathy towards a country’s leadership can have appreciable effects.”
According to Neri Karra Sillaman, an entrepreneur expert at Oxford University, tourists are finding it “too difficult or unpredictable” to travel to the US.
“Even if you get a visa, you have the risk of being detained or to be denied,” Karra Sillaman told Fast Company.
In recent weeks, the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration has seen Western travellers either refused at the border or even held in detention centres in poor conditions for weeks.
The UK Foreign Office has warned travellers of the risk of arrest when travelling to the US, after Welsh tourist Becky Burke was detained at the US-Canada border and held for three weeks in a detention centre.
Similarly, the German government has updated its travel advice, warning that a breach of US entry requirements could result in arrest or detention. This follows reports of three German nationals being held for extended periods despite no apparent visa violations or criminal activity.
Finland and Denmark have also advised transgender tourists to exercise caution when travelling to the US, following changes to US state department rules driven by the Trump Administration’s edict that it would only recognise two genders.
Finland has issued warnings to transgender travellers that they may not gain entry to the US, while the Danish Foreign Ministry has advised Danish citizens who use the gender designation X on their passports to contact the US embassy before embarking on their travels.
Among multiple instances, these ones are noteworthy because they involve countries that have long-standing alliances with the US, with immigration officials typically showing leniency to travellers from allied nations. There have also been several recent reports of travellers from the Middle East and India being detained at the border, despite having valid visas.
Commenting on the high number of cases involving Western travellers, Pedro Rios, director of the non-profit American Friends Service Committee, which provides aid to migrants, told AP: “It’s definitely unusual with these cases so close together, and the rationale for detaining these people doesn’t make sense. The only reason I see is there is a much more fervent anti-immigration atmosphere.”
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