“We used to be a country that others wanted to emulate. That narrative no longer exists,” said Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy School….
Kayyem explained that #SoftPower …is weakening with a filtered story being told to those outside the country: “If you’re a foreigner now, what you’re absorbing about the United States is a #dysfunctional government, #ICE raids, Americans being killed, crime everywhere.”
That’s not just bad for those working in the service & #tourism industries. The impact of a #SelfInflicted decrease in international visitors of this magnitude has implications on the #US’ world standing, its #SoftPower #diplomacy & the #economy as a whole.
CNN first reported worrying trends last August that have manifested in a 5.5% drop in international tourism in 2025. It’s the worst single-year decline in 2 decades, with the exception of the 2020 pandemic.
Travelers cite presidential rhetoric & policies manifesting in highly public #wars — both figurative & literal — as reasons for staying away.
Four million fewer foreign visitors came to the US in 2025 compared to 2024, with total spending decreasing by more than $8 billion.
#economy #recession #Trump #trumpcession #immigration #WhiteChristianNationalism #HateSpeech #StochasticTerrorism
Staggering dip in #US #tourism is a troubling sign for the future
There’s no sugarcoating it. The complete 2025 data is in, & the message is clear: International visitors stayed away from the US in the first real year-over-year decline since the COVID19 pandemic. The drop in visitors was larger than during the global #recession of 2008.
This time, it wasn’t a pandemic or a collapse of the market—it was #Trump.
#economy #immigration #WhiteChristianNationalism #HateSpeech
cnn.com/2026/05/25/travel/anal…
