(NEXSTAR) — With growing concerns over economic instability and global tensions, many major tourist destinations across the nation are fretting about potential shortages of visitors this year. However, travel experts suggest that if demand falls significantly, you might benefit from better deals as these locations may start offering more attractive promotions to attract tourists.
Where is tourism declining?
A
Las Vegas tourism report
Released earlier this week indicated that both visitation and hotel occupancy rates decreased compared to last year. This data comes from California’s tourism board.
reported steep drop-offs
beginning in February and March.
Due to the decline in travel demand, leading U.S. airlines are cutting back on their flight schedules and adjusting or canceling their financial forecasts for the year.
“We concluded with a robust fourth quarter, experienced reasonable activity in January, but noticed a significant decline in domestic leisure travel as we moved into February,” said American Airlines CEO Robert Isom to CNBC.
Consumer hesitancy to make vacation reservations would align with
a new poll
That indicated numerous individuals dread the U.S. is under threat.
steered into a recession
Moreover, President Donald Trump’s extensive and inconsistently applied tariffs will lead to increased costs.
The decrease in visitors includes both locals and international tourists.
U.S. Travel Association
International visits declined by 14% in March compared to the previous year’s figures, according to reports. The organization noted significant decreases in travelers coming from Canada and Western Europe.
Michael Feroli, who leads the U.S. economics team at J.P. Morgan, suggested that the decline in travel might be attributed to an increasing dislike of American people.
Over the past few weeks, various media reports have highlighted how many travelers are cancelling their visits to the US as a form of objection against what they see as overly strict new trade regulations,” he stated in his communication with clients. “This suggests we should take into account yet another factor when evaluating the impact these taxes might be having on overall business operations.
A modest reduction in international travel, stemming from either boycotts or financial instability, could result in significant losses for the US economy amounting to billions of dollars.
Bloomberg
reports.
Is the decrease in tourism likely to lead to better travel offers?
Should demand decrease within the travel industry, airlines, hotel chains, and similar businesses might reduce their prices in an effort to attract more customers again.
The cost of air travel decreased in both February and March, as reported.
Labor Department monitoring
.
Alaska Airlines Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett informed CNBC, “The ticket prices have weakened compared to those in the final quarter of last year extending through January and early February.” He further explained, “While demand remains robust across the sector, it hasn’t reached the elevated levels we expected would persist from last year onwards.”
Before jumping to too many conclusions, several industry analysts recommend holding off until the April data is published to evaluate whether the typically bustling spring break and Easter travel periods exhibited similar decreases in prices.
Nonetheless, airline business writer
Brian Summers
stated to The New York Times, “Overall, I anticipate that prices will drop, and we’ll observe more unoccupied seats.”
Should the U.S. economy slide into a recession this year, it might lead to lower prices for travel as well as various other products and services.
Indeed, during the 2008 downturn, there were several months when deflation occurred, causing the general price level to drop,” explained Tyler Schipper, an associate professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas. “This phenomenon tends to be especially noticeable for items considered somewhat luxurious for many families, such as travel. For example, airfare typically sees declines in pricing throughout most economic recessions. If another recession hits, I believe we’d witness similar decreases once more.
Nexstar’s Addy Bink and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB – BigCountryHomepage.com.
Leave a Reply