Visitor numbers to the United States declined across most regions in March, as tariff concerns escalate and foreign citizens are increasingly detained or denied entry.
In total, 2.39 million visitors entered the U.S. last month, according to a report by the U.S. International Trade Administration. This is an 11.6% drop year-over-year.
“Policies and pronouncements from the Trump administration have contributed to a growing wave of negative sentiment toward the U.S. among potential international travellers. Heightened border security measures and visible immigration enforcement actions are amplifying concerns,” according to economic advisory organisation Oxford Economics.
“These factors, combined with a strong U.S. dollar, are creating additional barriers for those considering travel to the U.S.”
The majority of visitors last month were from Western Europe, with the region representing 905,603 arrivals. This is a 17.2% decline from March 2024.
Visitors from the United Kingdom, the single largest contributor to U.S. arrivals outside North America, fell by 14.3%. Denmark posted a 33.9% decrease in arrivals, among the largest in the region, amid President Donald Trump’s demands that the U.S. acquire the Danish territory of Greenland.
The largest declines were seen in Central America and the Caribbean, where the number of visitors to the U.S. fell by 23.9% and 26%. The only country in either region to report an increase in arrivals in the U.S. was Panama, along with the Netherlands' Antilles territories.
All nations surveyed in Oceania saw a slump in arrivals, for an overall drop of 7.8%. Australia reported 59,859 visitors to the U.S. last month, falling by 7.1%.
The sole regions to see an increase in visitors to the U.S. were Eastern Europe, driven by a 22.7% rise in arrivals from Poland, and the Middle East, where Israel and Turkey together made up a majority of arrivals.
Mexican visitors reported a decline of 22.9% in entries by air travel and 38.9% in entries by sea, though arrivals via the countries’ shared border were excluded from the report.
While Canadian visitors were also not included in March’s data, Tourism Economics projected this month that arrivals from Canada would drop by 20% across 2025. Canadian residents’ return trips made to the U.S. by automobile fell by 31.9% year-over-year last month, according to Statistics Canada, and return trips by air decreased by 13.5%.
Nations like Canada, Germany, and the U.K. have issued new travel advisories for entrants to the U.S. in recent weeks, after citizens of these countries have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or denied entry.
China did the same last week following the U.S.’ introduction of heavy tariffs, with the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism crediting the changes to “the deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States”. Chinese arrivals to the U.S. fell by 0.8% year-over-year last month.
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