After Brand USA’s budget was slashed by 80 percent due to the Big Beautiful Bill’s passage earlier this summer, the nation’s official destination marketing organization is facing an uncertain future ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary and mega-events like the FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Just this week, Brand USA announced it slashed 15 percent of its workforce and is ending the GoUSA TV program, which promotes U.S. travel across platforms like Roku, Apple TV and YouTube. Instead, the DMO will shift focus to its new America the Beautiful campaign.
With just $20 million of its original $100 million annual federal budget, some industry leaders are sounding the alarm.
Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association earlier this summer called on the federal government to restore Brand USA’s funding, noting that "Failing to fully fund Brand USA is a missed opportunity — especially as the administration seeks to maximize an historic slate of global events on American soil.”
This isn’t the first warning sign for Brand USA, however. Earlier in the Trump Administration’s term, the U.S. Department of Commerce fired five of the eleven appointed board members overseeing Brand USA, including Destination DC CEO and Brand USA board chair Elliott Ferguson, who was just one month into his term as board chair.
While this might seem like an insignificant shift in a different direction to some, it does represent yet another warning sign for U.S. travel, particularly for international inbound tourism and our representation on the world stage.
President Trump’s current antagonistic and increasingly isolationist ideas, rhetoric and plans have already made an impact: international inbound travel is down, and travelers from Asia to Europe no longer consider the United States a desirable destination to visit (at least…not in the next four years).
My take? Watch travel in the next year.
America 250 will be all the indication we need to see how his visa restrictions and fees, defunding of important programs like Brand USA, increasingly antagonistic immigration policies and his rhetoric all combine to leave U.S. tourism floundering below not just pre-pandemic levels, but also the levels of growth we celebrated under Biden.
Sure, Americans will be traveling hard next year, spurred by events in historical cities and what I assume will be a memorable Independence Day, provided we don't slip into a recession before then.
Yet there’ll be a chill in the air as international tourism continues to cool—and we, from the restaurants to the hotels to the tour guides and everyone else who relies on international visitors, will pay the price for it.
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