Americans' fear of global Trump perception may be hurting US travel to Europe
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U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Europeans have been less interested in visiting America as of late — and for Americans, it appears the feeling's mutual.
Why it matters: President Trump's policies have purportedly dinged America's reputation internationally, and it seems that some Americans are feeling self-conscious about that reputation when making their own travel plans.
Driving the news: New data from the European Travel Commission (ETC) published Tuesday shows that just 33% of U.S. survey respondents are planning to visit Europe this summer, a drop of 7 percentage points from last year.
- The ETC said that concerns about high travel costs and plans for domestic holidays were the most cited barriers, but added that "worries about being negatively perceived overseas under Trump's confrontational foreign policy may also be a key factor dampening travel sentiment."
By the numbers: Long-haul travel sentiment in the U.S. has improved slightly since the start of 2025, the ETC wrote, but remains weaker compared to summer 2024.
- An increasing share of Americans (+5% from last year) plan to skip overseas travel between May and August, the ETC found.
- The commission reported that travel sentiment is strongest among Americans from the Northeast (43% vs. 33% in the total sample), a region that typically leans Democratic and "diverges politically from Trump."
- "While the US remains crucial for European tourism, the strained international relations and economic turbulence make the travel outlook hard to predict," the ETC said.
The intrigue: Chinese tourism to Europe is making up for lost U.S. visitors.
- Interest in European trips among Chinese travelers surged by 10% since last summer, per the ETC.
- 72% of respondents from China said they were planning to visit the continent.
- "The strong sentiment is supported by growing disposable incomes, favourable travel policies, and a consumer shift toward prioritising personal fulfilment and lifestyle experiences such as tourism," the ETC said.
That's as both Europe and China are embroiled in trade tensions with the U.S.
State of play: The U.S. has become increasingly unappealing to visitors, threatening a massive tourism industry that was worth $1.3 trillion in 2024.
- Visits from Germany alone plunged by 28% year-on-year in March.
- Aran Ryan at Tourism Economics told Axios in April that "polarizing rhetoric and policy actions by the Trump administration, as well as concerns around tighter border and immigration policies" were damaging the sentiment.
