(NEXSTAR) — With growing concerns over economic instability and global tensions, many major tourist destinations across the nation fear they might see fewer visitors this year. However, travel experts suggest that if demand decreases significantly, you might benefit from better deals emerging as a result.
Where is tourism declining?
A
Las Vegas tourism report
Released earlier this week indicated that both visitation and hotel occupancy rates decreased compared to the previous year. This data comes from California’s tourism board.
reported steep drop-offs
beginning in February and March.
Due to the decrease in travel demands, 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 progressed into February,” said American Airlines CEO Robert Isom to CNBC.
Customer hesitation about scheduling trips would align with
a new poll
That indicated numerous individuals are afraid 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 travelers includes both local and international visitors.
U.S. Travel Association
Reports indicated that international visits decreased by 14% in March compared to the previous year. The organization noted the most significant declines came from travelers originating in 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 Americans abroad.
Over the past few weeks, several news articles have highlighted how many travelers are cancelling their visits to the U.S., expressing dissatisfaction with what they see as overly strict new trade regulations,” he stated in his memo for clients. “This could be indicative of an additional factor we should take into account when evaluating the impact of these duties on overall economic performance.
A modest reduction in international travel, stemming from either boycotts or financial instability, could result in significant losses for the US economy amounting to several billion 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 attempt to attract more customers.
Airfares fell in February and March, as reported.
The Bureau of LaborStatistics monitoring
.
Alaska Airlines Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett informed CNBC, “The ticket prices have weakened compared to those in the final three months 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 conclusions, several industry analysts recommend holding off until the April data comes out to determine whether the typically bustling spring break and Easter travel periods saw 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 recession, 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 quite pronounced for items that many families consider luxuries, such as travel. For example, airfare typically sees decreases in pricing leading up to most economic downturns. If another recession hits, I expect we’d witness similar trends once more.”
Nexstar’s Addy Bink and the Associated Press provided contributions for this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This content must not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.
To stay updated with the most recent news, weather forecasts, sports updates, and live streams, visit WDTW.com.
Leave a Reply