Europeans avoid trips to the USA: a dispute among friends

Europeans avoid trips to the USA: a dispute among friends

The Frenchman David Pereira grew up in France with synchronized versions of American television programs such as "The A-Team", "Happy Days" and "The Dukes of Hazzard". He was obsessed with the American culture: he collected vintage-mustangs, has a GMC pick-up from the 70s and has visited the USA almost a dozen times. This summer he was looking forward to fulfilling his lifelong dream and visiting the Yellowstone National Park with his family after taking a successful tour of the national parks on the west coast two years ago. But after months of confrontation with Donald Trump's aggressive rhetoric, the 53-year-old entrepreneur could not do this with a clear conscience and said the trip.

a contribution to American culture

"How many Frenchers we immersed in American culture. We love it. But it's just incredible now," said Pereira, who lives about an hour north of Paris, in an interview with CNN Travel. "I constantly followed the news and thought: 'It couldn't be true.' It got worse. It was just fake news on fake news."

Similar feelings in Europe

Similar feelings of unbelief, anger, fear and concern that affects the neighbors of America, Canada and Mexico, spilled over the Atlantic, where European travelers cancel planned visits or rethink their travel plans for the USA. This happens against the background of enemy anti-European rhetoric of the Trump administration and the customs war. Safety concerns according to a number of plane plumbers and cuts that affect the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as reports about Anti-trump view , reinforce the travel fear

shocking travel stories

As warning stories about trips to the USA, the British author Farah Mendlesunn knew that she had to cancel the months that she was supposed to lead this summer from Scotland to Oregon, Seattle and Vancouver. Her plans that had been forged over three years to make research for a book about a science fiction author at a public university, as well as to help and visit friends at the SCI-FI WorldCon in Seattle and to attend friends href = "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly67j35y99o"> Welsh woman , which was held in the USA for 19 days. She was sent home in chains after being accused of working illegally during a tourist visa. Mendlesohn Canced her trip and lost £ 800 (about $ 1,050) for travel books.

political views and travel warnings

she also feared that her left-wing political views (she edited a provocative science fiction anthology with the title "Glorifying Terrorism" to challenge the extensive british anti-Terror laws of 2006) could prepare. "In addition to my own political views, I do not think that under these circumstances I want to travel to America and put money into the American economy," said Mendlessohn.

tour groups react to travel fears

On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to minimize the concerns of international travelers regarding a possible arrest in the United States and emphasized that travelers are signaled at the border crossing "for a certain reason". "If you do not come to the United States to take part in a protest from Hamas or to come here and tell us how really Hamas is, or ... to strain conflicts at our universities and to cause unrest in our streets, then you have nothing to fear," he explained journalists in Brussels.

decline in the number of travelers from Europe

The cooling effect on international travelers is increasingly reflected in the numbers. New data from the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that the arrivals of international travelers fell by 12 % in March compared to the previous year. This number excludes arrivals from Canada and Mexico. After a forecast of 5 % for trips to the USA this year in February, the travel forecast Tourism Economics has revised its expectations and is now running out of an increase by almost 9.4 %.

affected companies and bookings

Summer bookings for European travelers at the Accor hotels in the USA, according to CEO Sébastien Bazin, have dropped by impressive 25 %. Jean-François Rial, CEO of the leading luxury tourism company Voyageur Du Monde in France, reported that bookings for trips to the USA have decreased by massive 20 % since Trump's office in January. "In the 30 years of my work I experienced something like that for no travel destination. This is huge," said Rial in an interview with CNN Travel.

The effects of the travel returns

According to the forecasts of the NTTO, the international arrivals will increase by almost 7 % to 77.1 million this year, followed by a further increase by 10 % in 2026 for the World Cup, and then a lower increase of 6 % in 2027 - figures that Rial described as excessive optimistic. "If the United States says that there is no influence on Europeans' travel markets, they are wrong. That is nonsense," said Rial. The trend analyzes of the NTTO will be created by the end of 2024.

a surprising decline when traveling to the USA

Didier Arino, General Director of the French travel counseling company Protourisme, stated that the anti -trunk mood has led to an "unprecedented" decline in interest in the USA that is the leading long -distance destination among French tourists. "It is improper. There was something like this in a country in war or in a country with a security risk or health crises, but in a normal situation we have never seen such a decline," said Arino.

demolition of bookings and air travel

The British long -haul airline Virgin Atlantic recently warned that the demand for transatlantic trips to the USA has dropped. The forecasts of the NTTO about an increase in Canadian tourist arrivals by almost 3 % in 2025 also contradict current statistics that show a decline in Canadian travel to the USA. According to the US customs and border protection, the average number of daily travelers who cross the land border between Canada and the USA by car has fallen by 15 % from 92,983 to 79.407 in February. Likewise, The cross-border air trips from Canada to the USA in February a decline by 2 %-the first month with a decline in the previous year since the beginning of the pandemic.

a call to the boycott

A Grassroots boycott movement that started in Canada also wins on trips in Europe, with "Boycott USA" groups on Facebook from countries such as Denmark, where the group leads with 95,000 members, as well as Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden, which attracts new members every day. For the Swedes Johan Björnsson, the cancellation of his cruise in 2026 from Miami is an important gesture, even if he will lose a down payment of $ 500. He was never particularly political, but when he saw pictures of Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who insulted Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, the 43-year-old knew that he had to take a position. "It had nothing to do with politics, it was just a gross attack. It was disrespectful and simply wrong in many ways," he said. "That was probably the drop that caused the barrel to overflow."

The geopolitical tensions and their effects

for Europeans who live close to the war in Ukraine, the threat caused by Russian aggression over the continent. Last month, the EU Commission asked its 450 million citizens to 18-page strategy of the EU .

personal effects and travel cancellations

The proximity of Trump's orientation towards Putin, the attitude of help for Ukraine and the general anti-Europe rhetoric of the administration are viewed as a deep traitism on the continent. In a leaked Signal-Thread, which was published by The Atlantic Hegseth: "I share your aversion to European free. It's pathetic." During a visit to Greenland, an area belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, Vance criticized Denmark last week because "they did not do it well for the people in Greenland", in a speech that was largely considered hostile and insulting.

"We consider the USA as our best friend," said Jacob Bøll, a consultant who lives in Copenhagen. "Now we are not just no more friends, it's like our friend has started a fist fight with us." Bøll, 52, made these developments to cancel his travel plans to Cincinnati, where he wanted to visit close friends this summer and then travel to Nashville. He had also planned to take part in the World Cup next year, but will only go if Denmark is qualified and played in Canada.

"I just can't imagine a scenario in which I would go back," he said. "As a consumer, you choose your feet." After careful consideration, the Danish Robert Christiansen also canceled his plans to fly to Texas this summer to prepare a surprise to his daughter, who studies in Dallas. Christiansen, however, said that fears regarding flight safety and his own activity on social media, in which he shares the latest news as a small sign of resistance, would have made him nervous when he travels. "I cannot trust the United States government," said Christiansen.