Business Travel to the US is Declining: Here's Why

23 hours ago 1

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 3:00 PM ET, Fri May 16, 2025

Initially, business travel to the US continued to hold its own as leisure travel took a sharp nosedive amid President Donald Trump's tariffs, rhetoric and border detentions, which have put off would-be visitors.

But now, even business travel is taking a hit.

Preliminary data from the National Travel and Tourism Office shows business travel declined 9 percent in April amid both economic concerns and what the Associated Press said is "anger over the Trump administration tariffs and border policies."

The latest figures from the National Travel and Tourism Office for individuals entering the United States on a business visa show that there was an uptick in business visitors to the United States from only one region: the Middle East (up 9.4 percent over last year.)

Meanwhile, the volume of business travelers from Western Europe dropped a stunning 17.7 percent. Similarly, Mexican business visitation declined by 11.8 percent.

All of this is in stark contrast to the first quarter of 2025, when business travel to the United States appeared to be holding steady while leisure travel rapidly declined.

For instance, between January and March 2025, more than 1.2 million business travelers (those entering using business visas) came to the United States. That figure represented a 7 percent increase over the same period one year earlier. However, during that same January through March 2025 timeframe, the number of leisure travelers entering the country dropped 6 percent.

Looking forward to June, July and August, this decline in business travelers coming to the US appears poised to continue. Aviation analytics company Cirium says an analysis of online travel agency data reveals that advance bookings to the United States from Europe are down 12 percent over the same time frame last year, according to Associated Press.

Leslie Andrews, of the global real estate company JLL and a board member at the Global Business Travel Association Foundation, told the Associated Press that corporate travel to the US is likely to continue to decline "as the full impact of economic and geopolitical volatility sets in."

"What I am hearing is, 'Things were good in the first quarter,' but in the second quarter it's a matter of, 'Must you take that trip?'" Andrews told Associated Press. "They're pulling in the reins a bit to make sure only purposeful travel is happening as things grow and evolve."

These developments follow on the heels of multiple high-profile detentions of international visitors at US entry points, along with new US tariffs that have alienated long-time allies.   Three German citizens, for instance, were held for an extended period of time though they had not committed a crime or violated US visa or immigration rules, according to a report in The Guardian.

Among those held was a German man who was a US green card holder and said he was "violently interrogated" by US border officials.

Separately, a Lebanese doctor who works at Brown University's medical center was sent home despite having a valid US visa. Customs and Border Protection turned the doctor away after searching her phone and finding photos they felt were "sympathetic" to the former leader of the Hezbollah militant group.

And Becky Burke, a tourist who came to the United States from Wales to backpack across America, was held at US detention center at the border with Canada for three weeks, according to The Guardian.

Lorraine Sileo, senior analyst and founder of Phocuswright Research, a market research firm has said the pullback in visitation to the United States appears to be "more a U.S. issue right now" rather than a broad global weakness in travel. Most other regions around the world are experiencing positive tourism growth. 

On the leisure travel front, new data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shows the United States could lose as much as $12.5 billion in international travel spending this year. That would represent a 22.5 percent decline from the peak of US international spending in 2019, when the nation earned $217.4 billion.

The WTTC report says the US will be the only nation of the 184 analyzed for its forecast to see an international visitor decline in 2025.

In making the announcement, WTTC President Julia Simpson blamed "tourist detentions and steep tariffs" established by US President Donald Trump and his administration.

"While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the 'closed' sign," Simpson said. "I'm quite sure President Trump, with his background in hospitality, understands that holiday makers just want to come and enjoy the beautiful country and the people and the history and then go home again."

"They don't want to live there," Simpson concluded.

Trump has blamed the declines in visitation on "nationalism."

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