U.S. tariffs “big stick” swung at Europe, travel to the United States “cool”? A large number of European tourists “vote with their feet”

Recently, with the implementation of a series of U.S. tariff policies, not only in the field of economic and trade caused a huge uproar, but also on the relationship between the United States and Europe has had a far-reaching impact, in which the tourism market to the United States suffered a particularly significant impact. A large number of European tourists have canceled travel plans to the United States, so that the U.S. tourism industry is facing a cold winter.

Since April 2 this year, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order announcing the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on all trading partners, the global economic order has been stirred into chaos. The European Union (EU), an important trading partner of the United States, has not been spared and has been subjected to high differential additional tariffs by the United States. This initiative has triggered strong dissatisfaction and opposition from EU countries, and the European public’s negative sentiment toward the United States has also risen. Many German people said that the U.S. approach jeopardizes world trade, seriously damages the long-standing friendship between Europe and the United States, and deepens the rift in relations between the two sides.

This tension is visualized in the tourism data. The U.S. International Trade Administration data show that the total number of overseas visitors to the United States in March fell 12% year-on-year, marking the largest drop since March 2021 when the tourism industry was in trouble due to the epidemic restrictions. The number of visitors from Western Europe who stayed in the U.S. for at least one night fell 17 percent compared with the same month last year. Some European countries, such as Ireland, Norway and Germany, saw their visitor numbers plummet by more than 20 percent. Naren Sham, chief executive of travel booking website Omio, revealed that in the first quarter of this year, the cancellation rate of bookings to the United States was 16 percent higher than in the same period last year, while the cancellation rate of tourists from the United Kingdom,  Germany and France, which are hit harder by the tariffs, was even as high as 40 percent. Accor also said last week that bookings for European travelers to the U.S. were down 25 percent this summer.

For the U.S. tourism industry, this is undoubtedly a heavy blow. Tourism accounts for 2.5% of the GDP of the United States, and the spending of international tourists is a strong impetus to the United States economy. Last year, international tourists spent more than $253 billion on U.S. travel and travel-related goods and services, accounting for more than 19 percent of the $1.3 trillion in U.S. travel spending in 2024. Now, with the massive loss of European tourists, U.S. tourism revenues have plummeted. Airlines and hotel groups are bearing the brunt of the loss. The transatlantic route, one of the world’s most lucrative, saw a surge in demand after the end of the epidemic, but is now facing weakening demand. Virgin Britain warned that U.S. consumer demand for transatlantic flights would slow “slightly”; Air France KLM CEO Ben Smith said the company had been forced to cut its economy class transatlantic fares due to a “slightly weaker” market; Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines President Glenn Hauenstein also noted a “significant” decline in bookings from Canada. Analysts at US consultancy Barclays predicted a “sharp decline” in the profitability of transatlantic routes.

The U.S. tariff hikes, intended to safeguard its own economic interests, have inadvertently caused huge collateral damage to its own tourism industry. At the same time, it has also caused a crisis that is hard to ignore in the friendly relations established between Europe and the United States over the years. Today, a number of European countries have updated their travel warnings, and some of them have also issued special warnings for transgender tourists. Many European tourists bluntly said that under the current tense situation, “Trump will never step into the United States before he steps down.” If the United States wants to salvage the situation, it may need to re-examine its trade policy and seek reconciliation and cooperation with European countries, otherwise, the tourism industry and even the economy as a whole will face more serious challenges.