Decline in European Travelers to U.S. | Hacker News Reader

Decline in European Travelers to U.S.

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23 pointslentoutcry31 comments

I visited California last summer and even the most basic 2-star motels — like on the outskirts of San Diego — were going for over $300 a night. Nothing fancy, just clean sheets and a door.

I think a big part of the drop in European tourism is simple: the U.S. has gotten insanely expensive.

Between hotels, food, transportation, and tipping culture, the cost adds up fast. For many travelers, it’s not about politics or safety. It’s just not worth the price.

while it may be true that the US is "insanely expensive" (citation needed!), i'm curious how you square that with the linked data showing a sharp drop-off since the beginning of the trump administration. is the theory that things have gotten much more expensive recently? why was travel from many EU countries actually up just before the trump administration took office?

The US has gotten insanely expensive for Europeans but that has been happening since 2008. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?location...

The arbitrary detentions of foreign visitors at the border make me feel it would be unwise for my parents to come visit us in the US at the moment - they're too old to risk weeks of immigration detention.

They are also now detaining US citizens at the border, though they seem to be focussing on immigration attorneys so hopefully we'll be ok on the way back. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-crimi...

I doubt it has to do much with money. Right now you couldn't even say "I am going to the US for vacation" without getting a strange eye. People are avoiding buying anything with an American flag. Tesla's are literally returned and broken on the streets.

Really I highly doubt it's about money at all.

This does not hold for any but a very-few expensive markets, and even there, not most of the time. Hell, I stayed in Manhattan a few months back with my kids, and for two beds in a room just a couple blocks from Times Square, in a hotel that I'd classify as one full step up from "just clean sheets and a door", we didn't pay $300/night, even with those being a Friday and Saturday night. And that was the most expensive hotel I've ever paid for in my life.

You went somewhere very unusual and probably managed to hit on a peak weekend for whatever reason.

I’d like to know the name of this hotel because this sounds ridiculous. NYC hotels are notoriously expensive.

I picked that example exactly because it's infamously expensive, and I had recent direct experience.

A quick search for an arbitrary Friday and Saturday night next month gives a ton of options right around $300/night in Midtown, plus plenty under $300. I wanna say we paid around $220 or $240 a night. I did shop a little (maybe twenty minutes?) to find one that low that seemed pretty good (and was in fact pretty good)

My point is hitting $300/night in San Diego... and not even in a desirable location in San Diego, for a very-basic hotel... seems like an outlier, when you can get in (at least a little) under that in Midtown Manhattan of all places.

I live `on the outskirts of San Diego` (~30 min north, <10 miles to coast) and Marriott branded hotels (not motels) is currently listed as $125/night in spring break season. The hotel pricing argument to me indicates travel at peak season or insisting on being in the most touristy areas.

I will accept arguments on rental cars and dining/tips though (protip to any intl travelers, you can skip tipping on everything except table-service dining, Americans hit skip on every other prompt, the whole tip prompt everywhere thing was driven by payment processors wanting to increase their own profits)

This is the price i pay for a semi fancy hotel in Switzerland, 10 minutes outside of a city well connected and public transport included.

I've talked to plenty of people who regret having future tickets for travel to the US. I assume they were aware of the costs and considered them in their itinerary just as people have always had to for NYC, etc.

Are the US becoming expensive or are Europeans becoming poor compared to Americans?

All data from income to GDP show that Europe is falling behind so perhaps this is when numbers become real...

Probably, but still those who can afford it, reconsider if the experience is worth the money - like with life expectancy where poorest Europeans are on the level of richest Americans. Sometimes you can get more with less money.

The USD just fell sharply relative to the euro; if anything you'd expect a small _spike_ in travel, not the massive sharp decrease shown on the graph.

Maybe the US just has just lost its fascination.

I mean, we are bombarded with America's stupidity amost every day, why spend our vacation there? The whole travel experience just sucks anyway and at the border you are treated like the next Osama Bin Laden.

Compare this to travelling inside the EU, where we enjoy complete freedom of travel, good food, nice cities, safety and general rationality.

It's just way more pleasant over here.

On the other hand, you are writing in American English and everything in Europe is in the final stages of being fully Americanised.

> nice cities, safety and general rationality.

Which leads to the "Paris Syndrome" when reality hits tourists...

Well, of course I'm not denying any of that. The US influence has brought a lot positives to Europe after ww2. But right now, things are changing. I've spent a lot of time in the States in the past, but now I'm trying to stay away as much as possible....

Tourism in Switzerland is growing and not getting cheaper either.

Perhaps but that's not relevant to the comment I was replying to and to the point of my reply. Neither were about the potential impact of Trump's presidency.

That seems like an Occam's Razor violation given all Trump's admin efforts to penalize non-white people.

> For many travelers, it’s not about politics or safety.

Tourism Pullback and Boycotts Set to Cost U.S. a Staggering $90 Billion - https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-... - April 15th, 2025

World Travelers Are Rethinking Vacation Plans to the US - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/is-it-har... | https://archive.today/h56ar - April 8th, 2025

Europeans:

European tourists shun US following Trump election - https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-tourists-shun-us-followi... - April 12th, 2025

European travellers cancel US visits as Trump’s policies threaten tourism - https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118... | https://archive.today/yLUvW - April 11th, 2025

‘It’s like our friend started a fist fight with us’: These Europeans are skipping US travel - https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/travel/european-travelers-ski... - April 9th, 2025

Canadians:

Canadian Car Travel To U.S. Plunges 32% In March As Boycott Escalates - https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/04/14... | https://archive.today/RdlUN - April 14th, 2025

Airlines Cut Seats to the U.S. as Canadians Stay Away - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/canada/air-canada-f... | https://archive.today/SkgBu - March 28th, 2025

The new fascist administration deporting innocent (literally and as in "innocent until proven guilty") people to a gulag in El Salvador is enough reason for me not to travel to the USA anytime soon.

This is where yo can end up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Confinement_Center

If I want to do war or poorporn tourism there would be cheaper and more interesting places to visit

Why would I voluntarily go to a country where I’m one administrative error away from being in an El Salvadorian prison for the rest of my life? Especially when said country is not fucking El Salvador.

It is fucking El Salvador, I think you meant it isn't El Salvador.

No, the country is USA. The prison you end up is in El Salvador.

The US has been fucking Latin America for decades, you just mean that it isn't El Salvador..

As a European the main cons is that most places to be are big cities which are:

- Expensive

- Crime ridden

- Full of homeless and drug addicts

I don't care who is your supreme leader of the day, they're all useless.

I regret not having had the chance to visit the states in the 80s. I think I'll hit Japan and South Korea, while there's still people.

> I regret not having had the chance to visit the states in the 80s.

Every one if the problems you complain of was far worse in the 1980s, except maybe the “expensive” one because all the others drove down desirability. so I don't know why, if they are problems for you now, you would regret missing the opportunity to experience them at their more intense levels then.

Like, seriously, urban crime rates were many times higher, homelessness share of the population was higher (and rising more rapidly), etc.

IDK man, really depends on where you visit. The few dozen big cities we currently associate with wealth were doing way worse, but the hundreds of smaller cities we currently associate with the poverty of former manufacturing and industry were generally doing a lot better.

> I regret not having had the chance to visit the states in the 80s.

US big cities were far worse in the 80s than they are today. New York City had a homicide rate of 25.8 in 1980 and it is now 5.3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_New_York_City#Murders...

While still several times higher than other developed countries it is lower than the US average of 6.3.

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