Trump meets with travel industry CEOs on push to boost foreign tourism
The World Cup in June provided a temporary boost
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[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump met with major travel company executives on Wednesday (Sep 2) including representatives from American Airlines, Marriott, MGM Resorts and Carnival to discuss ways to reverse a decline in international visitors.
US tourism got a big but temporary boost from the Fifa World Cup this summer. Travel spending rose 6.2 per cent year over year in June to US$122.1 billion, its strongest monthly reading in a year and Fifa reported its best-ever attendance at this summer’s tournament.
Trump said Fifa was a big economic boost to US host cities. “The American skies were loaded up with planes and loaded up with a lot of happy people,” Trump said.
US Travel Association President Geoff Freeman said the group wants to boost foreign visitors to 100 million annually. This would be a sharp increase from 68 million in 2025, which was down 5.5 per cent from 2024.
Even with the bump from the World Cup in June, overseas visitors are down another 4.7 per cent through July 2026, the Commerce Department said.
“Let’s make the US the world’s most visited destination. That’s France today,” Freeman said.
France had a record 102 million foreign tourists in 2025, including 5 million Americans, which was up 17 per cent over 2025
International arrivals to the US have declined, with travel officials citing a number of factors including lengthy visa interview wait times; higher airline ticket prices; stricter immigration policies; tariffs; and US travel restrictions for some countries.
One concern of industry groups is the Trump administration’s imposition of bonds for visitors from 50 countries, which has resulted in an 80 per cent decline in arrivals from those countries, Freeman said.
“We cannot get to 100 million travellers with a bond programme that would discourage travellers,” Freeman told reporters.
Visitors from Canada fell 20 per cent last year as Canadians objected to Trump‘s tariffs and his calls for annexing their country. This hit US tourism destinations like Las Vegas and border states. The number of Las Vegas tourists fell by 7.5 per cent in 2025.
Trump‘s meeting included the CEOs of Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Venetian and Raffles & Fairmont.
The White House noted it has made airport screening easier, allowing passengers to keep shoes on and adding family screening lanes at some airports. It also aims to create more biometric fast lanes for returning US citizens and quicker international connections to domestic flights.
The industry faced a number of hurdles over the last year as partial government shutdowns snarled airport security lines and flights.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in May threatened to halt border processing at Newark and potentially other airports in so-called “sanctuary cities.”
Travel groups warned that this could lead to chaos, strand thousands of tourists and Americans trying to get home, and prevent crucial cargo shipments. Freeman said it appeared DHS has moved away from the idea. REUTERS
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