As the busy summer travel season heats up across the globe, new data from June released by the National Travel and Tourism Office show that the United States is still experiencing a decline in travel this year.
Total U.S.-international air traffic passengers were over 25 million in June, a 1 percent decrease from June 2024, but was still well above the 2019 pre-pandemic total. This metric includes international visitors and Americans heading abroad.
The biggest decrease was in non-U.S. citizens traveling to the United States. International visitor arrivals dropped a stunning 6.6 percent compared to last June.
International travel by U.S. citizens was up 0.2 percent from last year, exceeding the pre-pandemic total by over 20 percent.
Total air passenger travel, which includes arrivals and departures, between the U.S. and other countries were also all down: travel between the U.S. and Mexico dropped 1.4 percent; travel between Canada and the U.S. dropped 4.9 percent; travel between the U.K. and the U.S. dropped 5 percent; travel between Germany and the U.S. dropped 1.6 percent; and travel between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic dropped 2.2 percent.
Data from the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) continues to report on global air travel demand: and while the rest of the world keeps climbing, a shrinking domestic and international demand in the U.S. is causing North America to be the only region with declines this year.
In May, IATA reported domestic travel demand dropping 1.7 percent, while North America’s overall travel demand dropped 0.5 percent. All other regions reported increases from last year.
President Trump’s international policies, tariff wars and talks about annexing sovereign nations have led to strong backlash in the countries impacted, including an American travel boycott by Canadians and increased fear from Europeans, which has led to people postponing visiting the United States.
The World Travel & Tourism Council warned back in May that his rhetoric and policies could lead the United States to lose an estimated $12.5 billion in travel spending this year. It expects the United States to be the only nation to experience a decline in tourism and tourism revenue this year, out of the 184 it analyzes each year in the organization’s Economic Impact Reports.
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