The place are vacationers going if they are not going to the U.S.?

The United States stands to lose about $30 billion in worldwide tourism this yr, because the nation’s political surroundings and robust greenback proceed to discourage overseas vacationers from visiting.

In early 2025, the U.S. Travel Association projected foreign travel spending would rise to $200.8 billion this yr.

However, noting a “sharp and widespread” drop in arrivals, the World Travel & Tourism Council in May projected worldwide customer spending would drop to $169 billion for the yr.

The misplaced income is ready to profit different nations — notably Canada and Latin America — as vacationers hunt down different locations or resolve to remain inside their very own nations or areas.

In the primary half of 2025, Canadian arrivals to the U.S. fell nearly 18% year on year, representing a drop of greater than 1,750,000 visits, based on the U.S. International Trade Administration.

Many Canadians are turning to home journey, which helped push the nation’s July hotel occupancy rate to 77.6%, its highest stage since 2019, based on actual property information supplier CoStar. The “Canada Strong Pass” —  a summer time tourism initiative marked as a celebration of energy and unity within the nation — drove a rise in visits to Canada’s museums, historic websites and nationwide parks, the federal government reported this week.

Other Canadians proceed to enterprise south, flying over, slightly than to, the United States, based on the analysis agency Tourism Economics.

“We are seeing more Canadians are headed to Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean,” stated Adam Sacks, the corporate’s president.

Data from Booking Holdings additionally exhibits Canadians are more and more selecting Mexico as a journey vacation spot, a consultant instructed CNBC Travel.

Latin America is interesting to extra vacationers from Europe too, based on the consulting agency Accenture. The area, in addition to the Caribbean, is attracting Europeans who’re in search of options to the U.S., a consultant stated.  

In an e mail to CNBC, a Booking Holdings consultant stated the corporate is seeing “new travel corridors” emerge as inbound journey to the U.S. drops, noting a rise amongst Europeans to journey inside Europe and to Asia.

Western Europeans, particularly, are more and more touring inside the area, in addition to to the Middle East, added Tourism Economics’ Sacks.

More Asian vacationers, too, are looking for journeys to Europe and the Middle East this yr, stated Michael Dykes, Expedia Group’s vp for market administration in Asia-Pacific.

A CNBC survey of 6,000 Southeast Asian international travelers, performed by Milieu Insight, showed that among those reconsidering trips to the U.S., most said they plan to travel within Southeast Asia or East Asia, followed by Europe and Oceania.  

Singaporean traveler Rahul Jain told CNBC Travel that he’s already booked a trip to Australia this year, and now he’s considering going to the United Kingdom or France.

“Europe is still attractive to me,” he said. But, he added, the U.S. is “off my list.”

In the first half of 2025, the U.S. welcomed about 1 million fewer international visitors compared to the same period in 2024, according to government data.

But in comparison with 2019, it is on observe to see 13 million fewer worldwide guests by the year-end, stated Sacks.

At the identical time, journey arrivals are growing to different nations.

“The countries forecast to witness the largest gain in international visits relative to 2019 are Spain, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he stated, that are anticipated to obtain 16.5 million, 14.5 million, and 14 million extra vacationers, respectively.

The United States’ share of world worldwide journey fell from 8.4% in 1996 to 4.9% in 2024, as different markets developed and new markets entered the fray, stated Sacks.

The U.S.’ share of cross-border journey dropped within the early 2000s, leveled off, then took one other hit throughout President Donald Trump’s first time period, based on information from Tourism Economics.

This yr, it is set to fall once more, with the United States’ share of world worldwide arrivals forecast to drop to 4.2%, stated Sacks. And, it is projected to stay at that stage via the following decade, he stated.

“The U.S. is losing share again in 2025,” stated Sacks. “We don’t expect it to recover that share within our forecast horizon.”

Meanwhile, arrivals to different prime tourism attracts — together with France, Greece, Mexico and Italy — are set to extend this yr.

This exhibits “how dire this has been for the U.S. compared to competing destinations,” stated Sacks.