US is on track to lose $12 billion in travel revenue in 2025

NIKKI EKSTEIN

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The US is on track for a very bad tourism year.

According to new data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), shared exclusively with Bloomberg, the country is set to lose $12.5 billion in travel revenue in 2025, with visitor spending estimated to fall under $169 billion by year's end. The numbers represent a decline of around 7% in visitor spending year-over-year, and a decline of 22% since tourism reached its peak in the US in 2019.

This puts the US in a league of its own. Out of 184 global economies analysed by WTTC in conjunction with Oxford Economics, it's the only one projected to lose tourism dollars this year. “Other countries are really rolling out the welcome mat, and it feels like the US is putting up a ‘we are closed’ sign at their doorway,” says WTTC President and Chief Executive Officer Julia Simpson.

The consequences, Ms Simpson says, could be devastating. “The US travel and tourism sector is the biggest sector globally compared to any other country, worth almost $2.6 trillion,” she says, citing WTTC and Oxford Economics data. According to Ms Simpson’s data, direct and indirect tourism represents 9% of the American economy. (Visitor spending is one of the “direct” parts of the travel economy, while “indirect” contributions include the knock-on effects of increased spending by hospitality professionals.)

The sector employs 20 million people and creates $585 billion in US tax dollars each year, or 7% of all tax revenue the US government receives. It's a “major mainstay of the US economy,” she says.