by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 3:35 PM ET, Thu July 23, 2026
While international visitation to the United States has experienced a sharp decline under the Trump Administration, those who do visit from abroad have some clear favorites when it comes to the U.S. cities they prefer most.
The eternally popular New York City was the most visited U.S. city among international business travelers in 2025 with 892,000 arrivals, according to 12 newly released market profile reports from the National Travel and Tourism Office. Two California cities ranked second and third in popularity among international business travelers: Los Angeles with 485,000 international visitors and San Francisco following just behind with 374,000 international arrivals. Miami and Las Vegas round-out the top five with 372,000 and 275,000 international visitors, respectively.
U.S. national parks are a big attraction among travelers from abroad as well, which is important to note at a time when the presidential administration has repeatedly slashed national park budgets at record levels and laid off scores of park staff. Trump's 2027 budget proposal, like last year's, guts the National Park Service, making sweeping cuts, including a $736 million reduction (over 25%) to park operations. The National Park
Service budget makes up 1/15th of one percent of the federal budget. And despite that meager amount, the U.S. national parks contribute more than $55 billion to the U.S. economy.
Some of the top overseas source markets that visited U.S. national parks and monuments in 2025 were the United Kingdom (1.7 million visitors), France (918,000 visitors), Germany (895,000 visitors), Brazil (721,000 visitors), and India (546,000 visitors), according to National Travel and Tourism Office data.
Theme parks are also drawing their fare share of attention from global travelers. But the level of interest in these attractions varies significantly by the country from which travelers are visiting. For instance, the most likely overseas visitors to go to a U.S. amusement or theme park were travelers from Brazil at 61 percent, followed by Columbia (53 percent), Ecuador and Costa Rica (both 49 percent), and Chile (47 percent).
When fine dining is on the agenda for international visitors, New York leads the pack with 2.2 million visitors engaging in such an experience in the Big Apple. Additional U.S. cities leading in fine dining experiences for international visitors include Miami (1.2 million), Los Angeles (1.0 million), Orlando (789,000), and San Francisco (722,000).
Of course enjoying a memorable meal isn’t the only thing international visitors want to do when exploring the United States.
The top leisure activities of the 9.4 million overseas visitors who rented cars in the United States were shopping (87 percent), national parks/monuments (41 percent), Small Towns (38 percent), Amusement/Theme Parks (37 percent), and Historic Locations (31 percent).
The 12 market profile reports of overseas visitors released by the National Travel and Tourism Office are based on the Survey of International Air Travelers (SIAT). The reports detail the characteristics of overseas visitors engaged in a variety of activities including air travel, visiting American Indian communities, amusement-theme park visits, business, car rental, cultural heritage explorations, fine dining, hotel-motel bookings, national parks and monument visits and more.
In 2025, the United States had about 4 million fewer international visitors then one year earlier. That figure represented a 5.5 percent decline in overseas
tourism. Spending by international visitors in 2025 also declined by about $8 billion. According to reports, travelers appear to be avoiding trips to the United States because of
President Donald Trump's rhetoric, hardline policies, and the U.S. attack on Iran.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
