Trump to Meet With Travel Industry CEOs on Tourism Push

WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald ⁠Trump ⁠will meet with main journey ⁠firm executives on Wednesday together with representatives from American Airlines, Marriott, MGM ​Resorts and Carnival amid a decline in worldwide guests.

U.S. tourism bought an enormous enhance from the ‌FIFA World Cup this summer season. ‌Travel spending rose 6.2% 12 months over 12 months in June to $122.1 billion, its strongest month-to-month ⁠studying in ⁠a 12 months and FIFA reported its best-ever attendance at this summer season’s match.

In ​2025, worldwide arrivals to the U.S. fell 5.5%, with journey officers citing plenty of elements together with prolonged visa interview wait instances, larger airline ticket costs, stricter immigration insurance policies, tariffs, and U.S. ​journey restrictions for some international locations. Overseas guests are down one other 4.7% by means of July 2026, ⁠the Commerce ⁠Department stated.

Visitors from Canada ⁠fell 20% ​final 12 months amid tensions and has impacted U.S. tourism locations like Las Vegas and in ​border states. The quantity ⁠of Las Vegas vacationers fell by 7.5% in 2025.

Trump is assembly with members of the U.S. Travel Association and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy can be set to attend. Other firms collaborating embody Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Venetian and Raffles & Fairmont.

White ⁠House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers stated Trump is assembly with journey firms “to celebrate the accomplishments ⁠that produced a historic summer travel season and delivered a strong boost to our local economies and small businesses.”

The White House famous that it has made airport screening simpler, permitting passengers to maintain footwear on and including household screening lanes at some airports. It additionally goals to create extra biometric quick lanes for returning U.S. residents and faster worldwide connections to home flights.

The business confronted plenty of hurdles during the last 12 months as partial authorities shutdowns snarled airport ⁠safety traces and flights.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in May threatened to halt border processing at Newark and probably different airports in so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Travel teams warned that it might result in chaos, strand hundreds of vacationers and Americans ​attempting to get residence, and stop essential cargo shipments.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; ​Editing by Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)

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