Fewer foreigners visit the US in 2025, but global tourism spending increases

Jackson Blendowski, 6, looks at the Statue of Liberty. John Minchillo/AP The United States recorded a 6% drop in foreign visitors in 2025, even as global tourism overcame concerns about saturation in some locations and generated a 6.7% increase in spending compared with the previous year, according to an industry group. The country has just announced the suspension of issuing visas to 75 countries, including Brazil, according to the State Department. The American government said it will freeze immigrant visas, a category that tourists are not part of. More than 1.5 billion tourists spent $11.7 trillion on hotels, cruises and flights last year, according to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The tourism industry’s contribution was equivalent to 10.3% of global gross domestic product, with tourism spending growing twice as fast as global economic growth, the WTTC said. With many people, especially younger generations, traveling more frequently, concerns such as U.S. anti-immigration policies have driven tourists to European countries such as Spain and France, as well as Japan, said WTTC interim president and CEO Gloria Guevara. Latin Americans, including Colombians and Mexicans, traveled less to the U.S., and those Mexicans who still went to the U.S. took shorter trips, she said in an interview in Madrid. With foreign tourism in the US falling, the world’s third most visited country saw foreign tourists spend 7% less as arrivals from Canada, Mexico and Europe fell, according to WTTC estimates. However, spending by domestic tourists more than made up for this. The US is the largest travel and tourism economy in the world. The tourism industry continues to grow despite negative reaction from some locals at tourist spots, Guevara said. “We have not seen the impact of overtourism, and the best example is just where overtourism has been generated, particularly in Europe and Japan, where we are seeing another record,” she said. The global tourism industry is expected to grow 4.5% in 2026, again outpacing global economic growth, according to the WTTC. France welcomed 105 million visitors in 2025, while more than 96.5 million tourists arrived in Spain, according to WTTC estimates, well above the 68 million who visited the US last year.

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