European Tourism To US Plunges (ft.com)
- Reference: 0177005343
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/04/12/0145241/european-tourism-to-us-plunges
- Source link: https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118127
> The number of European travellers visiting the US has fallen sharply as political and economic tension and fears of a hostile border under President Donald Trump threaten the world's most lucrative air routes.
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> Visitors from western Europe who stayed at least one night in the US fell by 17 per cent in March from a year ago, according to the International Trade Administration. Travel from some countries -- including Ireland, Norway and Germany -- fell by more than 20 per cent, an FT analysis of ITA data showed.
>
> The trend poses a threat to the US tourism industry, which accounts for 2.5 per cent of the country's GDP. Some airlines and hotel groups have warned of waning demand for transatlantic travel and a "bad buzz" about visiting the US. The total number of overseas visitors travelling to the US dropped by 12 per cent year-on-year in March, the steepest decline since March 2021 when the travel sector was reeling from pandemic restrictions, according to the ITA data.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118127
I am shocked! (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you telling me that the prospect of random ICE detention without due process does not attract tourists?
Re: (Score:1)
I've always wanted to visit Central America, perhaps they'd give me a free ticket to El Salvador.
Why would anyone visit the US right now when they can catch a train to Nuremberg any time?
Re:I am shocked! (Score:4, Insightful)
There's also "we're going to attack your economy because America fuck yeah!" and "we're going continually threaten to conquer one or more members of the EU", with a side order of, "we're going to help that brutal expansionist dictator to your east take over a country on your borders". Oh, and who can forget, "We're withdrawing the military support we deliberately forced you to be dependent on, and call you parasites for that dependency then get angry when you start to take care of your own defense".
Any money you give to the US is likely to be used to fund an attack on your own country at some point, whether economic or military.
Re:I am shocked! (Score:4, Informative)
I even saw an article where one of the 'gang' tattoos used by ICE as an example is actually on a 44 year old brit, apparently pulled from an Instagram post.
[1]https://www.bbc.com/news/artic... [bbc.com]
It is very unlikely that he's a member of Tren de Aragua, South American gang.
Why is this relevant? He had been planning a trip to Miami, but now probably won't come due to fear of non-judicial imprisonment.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly22xm8kx1o
Re: (Score:2)
> Are you telling me that the prospect of random ICE detention without due process does not attract tourists?
Ya, but... On the upside, your return trip is paid for by ICE !! (on the down side, it's to El Salvador)
So many deals! So many wins! (Score:3)
Now that the hotels are empty I guess there will be deals for Americans to do more domestic travels.
Let those Orbitz deals fly!
*The above comment was brought to you by said no one ever dot com*
We've got too many people disconnected (Score:2, Insightful)
from the economy. Between the swarm of retirees who only care about their next SSI check and the millions of people stuck in gig work this was inevitable.
The CIA knew this. If the number of discontented gets too high foreign governments can and will use them against you. China handles that with total information control. We here in America welcomed them in to destroy us because it was useful to a handful of our oligarchs.
Re: (Score:2)
While I do not agre on all your points, one factor that makes a socity disintegrate is a falling number of people personally invested into making things work well. That is not even a financial thing. That is "I want this thing to work well here for everybody!". The mindless and unfounded US patriotism ("We are better than everybody else!"), is a poor substitute that comes with severe problems (some nicely observable at this time) and long-term devolution into a non-functional state becasue learning from oth
Why come to America? (Score:1)
Rosie O'Fonnel is in Scotland and Ellen Degenerous is in England(?), what is the attraction? They should stay where they are, we need the hotel rooms for our visitors from the south.
I don't think NYC hotels are hurting from the drop in European tourism, the city was buying-out entire hotels for top-rates (oh, wait, dot the hotels charge the gov't funded NGOs all the city hospitality taxes? Maybe that's the issue?)...
Montana is fuuuuuuuucked (Score:3)
huge drops in revenue. Entire towns are going to go bust. Tons of Europeans go there to see scenery you can't see anywhere else on earth. Or they did anyway. Before the Orange Typhoon.
Re: (Score:2)
I did that when I was around 20. Some truely spectacular things, especially the national parks. These days, I regard the US as a no-go zone. Such a pity.
Re: (Score:2)
> Rosie O'Fonnel is in Scotland and Ellen Degenerous is in England(?), what is the attraction?
Well I can't say it will have a massive effect but I suppose those are two reasons for Brits to visit the USA.
Re: (Score:2)
> Rosie O'Fonnel is in Scotland and Ellen Degenerous is in England(?), what is the attraction?
Less crime and guns, people more happy overall. You should get out more.
Natural wonders and cultural emptiness (Score:2, Insightful)
We have possibly the most impressive natural environment on earth, and a cultural environment that is almost non-existent.
Re: (Score:2)
> ... and a cultural environment that is almost non-existent.
Not true, we have "truck nuts", except in Idaho, [1]Idaho governor signs bill criminalizing public breast exposure and ‘truck nuts’ [idahocapitalsun.com].
[1] https://idahocapitalsun.com/briefs/idaho-governor-signs-bill-criminalizing-public-breast-exposure-and-truck-nuts/
Not just Europe (Score:4, Interesting)
In 2024, we had 77M tourists from abroad. 20M visitors from Canada, 15M from Mexico. EU probably accounts for 10-12M. These 77M foreigners spent $155B in 2024. So much winning.
Re: (Score:3)
Car traffic from Canada is down 30%, air traffic is down 15% year-over-year.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm Canadian and I love parts of the USA. NYC is awesome and so is Chicago.
But there's no way I'm traveling to or through the US for the foreseeable future. My holidays will be spent in Canada, Europe or Asia.
This is what the right wing wants (Score:3, Insightful)
hell even a lot of the conservatives want it. Isolationism. For the rest of the world to fuck off because they don't understand it and they don't want to.
Of course that's not gonna happen. You'll note, for example, that through all of this we're still ramping up H1-Bs, and that the only students sent away are Muslims who protested the war in Gaza (boy I just triggered the fuck out of somebody...).
But feelings don't care about your facts. There's a thing called "Mythic Truth". It means a truth more than true. A truth that doesn't have to be actually real or true because the ideal is so important that it's reality's job to fall in line. And the right wing is all about that.
If you've ever wondered how they can maintain cognitive dissonance it's easy. They don't experience it. It's true doublethink. Orwell didn't make it up, he just wrote about it.
Re: (Score:2)
> hell even a lot of the conservatives want it. Isolationism. For the rest of the world to fuck off because they don't understand it and they don't want to.
Hell, half the country doesn't be here with the other half -- yet, they won't leave. Maybe we all have [1]Stockholm syndrome [wikipedia.org]. :-)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
Re: (Score:2)
> You'll note, for example, that through all of this we're still ramping up H1-Bs,
I have a theory Trump doesn't actually care about immigration, he just talks about it to get votes.
The theory is based on his actions. Other than a few high profile deportations, he still hasn't built the wall, and Mexico hasn't paid for it. H1 visas seem to be increasing.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, pretty much accurate. The problem with isolationism is that you get left behind and slowly things stop working. The only model that somewhat works is the one used in North Korea where they tell people that they are doing much better than everybody else (sounds familiar?) and limit trade and communication excessively. But even an orwellian nightmare like that is not really isolated and goes for a long-term collapse.
I can inderstand why expecially the religious fuckups want that isolation though. It mus
I live in the border zone (Score:3)
I live in the 100-mile border zone. But I certainly wouldn't travel to any part of the US with a lot of border activity right now. Especially the Southern border. There's been a slow eroding of rights since 9/11.
Re: (Score:2)
> But I certainly wouldn't travel to any part of the US with a lot of border activity right now. Especially the Southern border.
Yes, especially after this: [1]Trump authorizes military to take control of federal land along US southern border [cnn.com]:
> President Donald Trump sent a memorandum to four federal department heads Friday night instructing them to allow the military to use and take jurisdiction of federal land along the US-Mexico border. The memo states that the Defense Department should be provided jurisdiction over lands including the Roosevelt Reservation – a 60-foot-wide swath of land along the border ...
> Migrants who cross in this area would be put into “holding” for trespassing onto a military property until the Department of Homeland Security could arrive to pick them up and deport them — putting the military in the position of effectively detaining migrants, something that is traditionally a law enforcement function.
> The memo further states that, “members of the Armed Forces will follow rules for the use of force prescribed by the Secretary of Defense.”
That last paragraph is, um... interesting, given it's Hegseth.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/11/politics/us-mexico-border-federal-land-military-control/index.html
Shocking. (Score:2)
People find car accidents interesting to watch from a distance -- not from the backseat.
I'm surprised (Score:2)
As a Canadian I'm probably biased - I would have thought the percentages would be at least double those stated in TFS.
Not to worry though - with the job ICE has been doing rounding up all those makeup artists, pro soccer players, and innocent fathers of young children and shipping them off to a Salvadoran hellhole, the US will be safe and welcoming for tourists of all skin colours Real Soon Now!
Don't worry (Score:2)
tourism will pick up once marshal law is declared
Probabaly not near the bottom (Score:2)
Many people book trips somewhat in advance so these current numbers probably reflect mainly people like me who had been thinking of travel to USA but changed their mind when trump was elected. In my case I had been thinking of a trip to to CES and had got as far as looking at flights and hotel costs. The appeal of walking around CES again kind of wore off once I realised that so many people I would be interacting with though that trump was ok enough to vote for.
Since getting voted in it has got much wo
Winning (Score:1)
Are we great yet?
Re: (Score:2)
> Are we great yet?
This is exactly what America voted for. They just didn't know (realize) it at the time (despite plenty of warning by others around them).