US authorities have been warned that their latest moves to tighten immigration controls will have a damaging long term effect on the country’s tourism sector.
Negative impacts are already being seen, in falling visitor numbers and lower hotel occupancy, as foreigners react to the policies of the Trump administration. Hotel industry leaders expressed their concerns about the impact on their businesses, at the ALIS conference in early 2026, held towards the end of January at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Los Angeles.
Research Calculates Likely Impact
Now, research by the World Travel & Tourism Council points to some substantial long term impacts, as the Trump administration talks of enacting new initiatives to further restrict entry to the USA. Changes to the current ESTA programme could make it harder and costlier for potential entrants to obtain necessary visa clearance. The US administration has also talked of introducing a requirement that any visitor must have their recent social media checked for any anti-American messaging.
The WTTC says the direct impacts will be multiplied by the sentimental impacts, as travellers see the USA as an unfriendly and unwelcoming place. Leisure travellers can easily displace their trips, to other destinations. Corporate event bookers are unlikely to plan a conference in a destination where they might have concerns that delegates will be unable to attend due to hold-ups at airport border control.
The impacts could, warn the WTTC, cost the US as much as USD15.7 billion, threatening the loss of up to 157,000 jobs. The numbers are estimated after a multi-country survey undertaken by WTTC, of travellers from ESTA-eligible markets. Modelling by Oxford Economics suggests 34% of respondents would be less likely to travel to the USA.
“Security at the U.S. border is vital but the planned policy changes will damage job creation,” warned WTTC president Gloria Guevara. “Our research finds that over 150,000 jobs could be lost if this policy goes ahead. Even modest shifts in visitor behaviour, put off by the planned changes, will have real economic consequences for US travel & tourism, particularly in a highly competitive global market.”
International arrivals into the US are already in decline. The country welcomed 72.4 million visitors in 2024, a figure that reduced to 68.5 million in 2025. In December 2025, visitor numbers from Canada were down 25.1% year on year.
Hotel Executives Express Concerns
At ALIS, Marriott president Anthony Capuano called for more connection between the travel sector, and the US government, to reverse the declining numbers: “There’s a massive opportunity just laying there waiting for us, but we’ve got to strengthen the partnership between the public and private sector, and we’ve got to raise awareness, which is shockingly low, about the compounding effect of travel and tourism on the nation.”
And IHG CEO Elie Maalouf banged the drum for more visitors, commenting: “International visitors come, spend and leave and don’t put a burden on our infrastructure or our social services.”
