Is there a Trump effect on tourism? Europeans hesitate to go on vacation to the United States with irregular reserves in spring and a pessimism of professionals on the edge of the summer season. In Frankfurt, the Gruber family that, every summer since 2018, went to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, surrendered. “The country that knew no longer exists,” said Raphaël Gruber, 60, a doctor.
Waiting for the summer season, the number of visitors to the United States of Western Europe was reduced by 17% in March, but increased by 12% in April compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from the Travel and Tourism Office of the American government agency (NTTO). Germany’s arrivals fell 28% in March, but jumps 14% in April, due to spring holidays at the end of this year, according to Torsten Schäfer, spokesman for the German Vocal Federation (DRV).
Flights to New York at 600 euros
At the end of March, several European countries asked that their citizens go to the United States to redouble their vigilance with respect to their travel documents. In the United Kingdom, Matt Reay, 35, a teacher in Northampothire (center of England) also renounced, preferring South America where “(his) money would probably get better.” In the United States “as a foreign visitor, I don’t feel really welcome,” he said.
The American vice president JD Vance “insulted the United Kingdom as a country as a country,” said the history professor who also “found the customs duties quite insulting” and “the treatment reserved for Zelensky (Ukrainian president, the editor’s note) (…) frankly scandalous.” The number of United Kingdom travelers fell 14% for a year in the United States in March before recovering from 15% in April.
The results of the month of March are the result of a “reaction to the actions of rhetoric polarization and the policy of the Trump administration, as well as concerns about a hardening of migratory and border policies,” says Oxford’s economy in a note. The rebound in April can also be explained by flight promotions. “There are flights, especially for New York, at 600 euros,” said Didier Arino, head of the French firm Protourisme.
Summer outputs 11%
In Germany, Muriel Wagner, 34, did not question his trip to Boston this summer to visit a friend in Harvard, one of the universities in conflict with the Trump administration. “We wonder how the political situation and commercial war with the United States would affect our trip,” said doctoral student at Frankfurt University. “We should not be intimidated,” he said, impatient for knowing the Americans “to discuss the situation with them.”
The latter believes that “the Trump effect” in France has made the intentions of leaving in the United States rise 25% this year. If the number of French travelers only fell 8% in March, autumn continued in April (-12%) and, according to travel companies, an organization that brings together more than 1,600 companies in the sector. This summer outputs to the United States are withdrawn by 11%. According to a study by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) that brings together the main world tourism operators, the American tourism sector, also affected by the absence of Canadians and Mexicans, could lose $ 12.5 billion in expenses in international visitors this year.
Source: BFM TV
