Domestic travel props up U.S. tourism, Canadians steer clear

Fewer international travelers are visiting the United States this year, but domestic leisure travel continues to grow. The U.S. Travel Association said Thursday that Americans are continuing to spend on vacations despite their concerns about inflation and the economy overall.

“The continued strength of American consumers contributes by far the largest component of U.S. travel spending,” the national nonprofit trade group said in a statement accompanying its fall travel forecast. “Americans continued to prioritize travel.”

The group’s 2025 update projects total U.S. travel spending will grow 1.1% this year to $1.35 trillion, despite a 6.3% decrease in international visits driven mostly by fewer travelers from Canada.

From Sin City to San Francisco, multiple tourism hot spots are reporting steep declines in Canadian travel this year following President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements on one of the country’s foremost trading partners earlier this year. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to the tariffs by encouraging his citizens to vacation domestically.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau reported on Tuesday that the visitor volume to the city is down 7.8% so far this year compared with 2024. Room occupancies are down 6.4% and visitors from Canada — the largest source of international travel to Las Vegas — are down by 20% year to date, the bureau said.

Visit California, the nonprofit promoter of tourism to the state, said in its Monthly Travel Indicators Summary from September that international visitation is on track to decline 9.2% in 2025, driven by a 17% drop in Canadian tourism and a 10% drop in visitors from Mexico.

Visit Florida reported mostly steady tourism numbers through the first half of the year. However, the number of visitors from Canada was down 16.9% in the first quarter and 20% in the second quarter, according to the state’s official marketing tourism group; third quarter statistics are not yet available.

The Canadian government said Friday that Carney will visit President Trump next week to discuss a new economic relationship with the U.S. 

The announcement comes two days after the Canadian government updated its advisory for visits to the United States, writing on its travel and tourism website that Canadian citizens who hold passports with the “X” gender identifier “might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier.”

In January, President Trump signed an executive order that said U.S. policy would only recognize two sexes: male and female.

The U.S. Travel Association expects international tourism to rebound in the coming years, boosted by major international events, including the FIFA 2026 World Cup, the 250^th Anniversary of the United States, the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033, and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The trade group expects international travel to increase 3.7% next year and to reach a historic high of 81.9 million visitors in 2029 because of major sporting events.

Visit California also expects domestic and international tourism to begin growing again in 2026 – increasing by 2.8% next year because of the FIFA World Cup, by 2.2% in 2027 when Los Angeles hosts Super Bowl LXI and by 2.3% in 2028 when the Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles.

The State Department said Thursday it will increase staffing at certain U.S. embassies and consulates to accommodate an expected major jump in visa applications from soccer fans wanting to attend World Cup matches in the United States next year.

The department said it will send hundreds of additional consular officers to “designated countries” to handle the demand for visa interviews. The number of staffers and the countries where they will go have yet to be determined because the 48-team field for the 2026 World Cup has not been finalized.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.