Trump Reacts to Reports of Declining US Tourism: 'Not a Big Deal'

Despite growing reports of international travelers avoiding the United States amid the new presidential administration's divisive policies and alarming detentions of international visitors, Donald Trump remains unconcerned about the country's tourism appeal.

Asked about the declining visitor numbers by a reporter in the Oval Office, Trump shrugged off the issue, according to reports from The Daily Beast,CBS News and the National Post.

"It's not a big deal," Trump told a reporter, per a video shared by CBS News on X. The comment from the reporter that prompted Trump's reply was: "there are fewer people suddenly that want to travel to the United States."

Trump surmised that the decline in international visitors to the US is due to nationalism.

"There is a little nationalism there, I guess, perhaps," Trump said before moving on to comment about the dollar, selling tractors, and his friendship with assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Several recent reports have shown that international travelers to the U.S. are declining or are rattled by reports of visitors being detained at US checkpoints.

A recently released report from the International Trade Administration (ITA), for instance, shows that arrivals of non-citizens to the United States by plane have declined by more than 11 percent since March 2024.

Additionally, Canadians returning from visits to the United States by plane have plummeted 31.9 percent year-over-year as of March. Arrivals of Canadian visitors to the United States are down steeply as well, by 12.5 percent.

These developments are not good news for the US economy. International travelers spent $254 billion in the US last year, according to ITA.

Separate reports from other analysts and organizations have further underscored such developments.

For instance, a report published by Bloomberg that quotes projections from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., estimates that "in a worst-case scenario" reduced travel to the US associated boycotts could cut about 0.3% of the country's gross domestic product. That would translate to almost $90 billion.

Additionally, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis found that the country could lose as much as $20 billion resulting from lost retail spending of international tourists.

Forthcoming data from The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) offers even more evidence of the shift taking place among would-be international visitors.

Preliminary results from a survey conducted by the organization of more than 225 tour operators and advisors revealed a noticeable decline in interest from foreign visitors to the U.S. Much of that is due to a perception that the country is less welcoming or harder to access.

To that end, about 92 percent of adventure travel businesses said they anticipate a negative effect on revenue within the next six to 12 months, and as many as 81 percent of those surveyed have already experienced a decline.

"This trend reflects a growing perception among foreign visitors that the U.S. is less welcoming and harder to access, influenced by factors such as visa difficulties and geopolitical tensions," Heather Kelly, director of research for ATTA, told TravelPulse today. "These perceptions are not only affecting traveler choices but are also having tangible economic consequences for adventure travel businesses across the country."

These types of reports follow a growing number of visitors being detained at US entry points, along with new US tariffs that have alienated long-time allies, such as Canada.

Three German citizens, for instance, were held for an extended period of time though they had not committed a crime or violated US visa or immigration rules, according to a report in The Guardian.  Among those held was a German man who was a US green card holder and said he was "violently interrogated" by US border officials.

Separately, a Lebanese doctor who works at Brown University's medical center was sent home despite having a valid US visa. Customs and Border Protection turned the doctor away after searching her phone and finding photos they felt were "sympathetic" to the former leader of the Hezbollah militant group.

And Becky Burke, a tourist who came to the United States from Wales to backpack across America, was held at US detention center at the border with Canada for three weeks, according to The Guardian.

Trump downplayed such incidents, stating: "No, we treat our tourists great. We are the tourism capital of the world. There's no place like this and there may be a little bit of nationalism, but I doubt it."

Before wrapping up the Oval Office press conference, the president said: "It makes it very hard for us to get tourism, and our dollar is a little bit on the low side and that means that a lot of tourism is going to come in.

"But I can see a little bit of nationalism at work, and I can see it likewise with us—not wanting to go to certain countries. But that'll work out very easily."

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