Some Europeans are rethinking their trips to the United States, citing President Donald Trump’s policies and demeanour as deterrents.
Danish traveller Kennet Brask, who enjoyed a previous fishing trip to Florida, cancelled his return visit this year after witnessing Mr Trump’s heated meeting at the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
«When I saw this meeting, I told myself, ‘I’m never going to go to the United States as long as Mr. Trump is the president there,'» Mr Brask stated, criticising Mr Trump’s behavior as «rude».
He now plans to travel to Mexico instead.
Mr Brask’s sentiment is echoed by many other Europeans, according to several travel agents across the continent. They report that a number of Danes and Germans, among others, are reconsidering US travel plans in light of Mr Trump’s recent actions.
These include challenging the US-European alliance, suggesting the annexation of Greenland, engaging in a global trade war, and implementing stricter border and visa policies, along with a crackdown on undocumented migrants.
European travel to the US represents a significant economic factor, with expenditures reaching US$155 billion in 2023, according to EU data.
Transatlantic travel also contributes substantially to the earnings of major airlines, including British Airways.
Visitor numbers to the US from Western Europe fell 1 per cent year-on-year in February, according to preliminary data from the US National Travel and Tourism Office, after rising 14 per cent in the same period in 2024.
This was led by a 26 per cent decline in travellers from Slovenia, followed by Switzerland and Belgium.
Mr Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, has been a particularly sensitive issue for Danes. One Dane, Kim Kugel Sorenson, said he cancelled a trip to California for a family friend’s wedding and removed stars and stripes from a tattoo so as not to appear to be pro-American.
US arrivals from Denmark fell 6 per cent in February after increasing 7 per cent a year ago, according to NTTO data.
European travel agents and travel data firms said they were also seeing a drop in searches for trips to the US, leading them to focus advertising on other destinations.
«We have taken an active decision to not spend a dime on marketing for any tours to the USA due to both the lack of client response and the current situation and attitude towards Denmark and Greenland in particular,» Steen Albrechtsen, a senior product manager at Albatros Travel in Copenhagen, said.
Overseas visitors spend seven to eight times more than domestic US travellers, according to the US Travel Association.
The stronger dollar, which rose ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration but has since fallen back, and sluggish European economy may also deter some from US trips, though travel agents said political tumult was having the most impact.
The number of internet searches for flights to the US has fallen sharply this month in France, Italy, and Spain, said Mirko Lalli, CEO of the Data Appeal Company, a tourism data provider. Demand from Britain, however, remains robust, he added.
Tourists choosing Canada instead
Germans in particular are shifting their sights to Canada as an alternative, German travel agency America Unlimited said.
Amid Mr Trump’s threats that he will turn Canada into the 51st state, some Europeans see a holiday there as a sign of solidarity.
«Canada is experiencing an unprecedented boom,» America Unlimited CEO Timo Kohlenberg said.
In turn, Canadians may flock to Europe this summer as they shun travel to the United States.
European vacation rental properties have seen a 32 per cent jump in bookings from June to August year-over-year from Canadians, according to Key Data, a short-term rental analytics company.
Other travel companies, like Europe’s largest tour operator TUI TUI1n.DE, still expect the US market to hold up, particularly for city trips and camper tours.
«We are expecting more travellers from Germany vacationing in the US than in 2024,» a TUI spokesperson said.
In February, German visits to the US fell 9 per cent year-over-year after increasing 18 per cent in the same period a year ago, according to the NTTO.
Britain and Germany have updated their advice for citizens travelling to the US to emphasise the country’s entry rules. Germany’s foreign ministry said it was monitoring whether there had been a change in US immigration policy after three nationals were detained.
Maria del Carmen Ramos, immigration attorney and partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP, said people arriving at the US border were receiving greater scrutiny, but border patrol agents had more discretion and authority than people realised.
«It seems like it’s the Wild West at the border and there’s no rhyme or reason as to how things are being done.”
