Airlines hit back at White House claims of booming travel to the U.S.

'Customers are holding back in buying tickets for a little more clarity on the border and things like that.'

May 1, 2025 - 22:48

Airlines hit back at White House claims of booming travel to the U.S.

Over the last week, the Trump administration has repeatedly denied any claims of a hit to the travel industry caused by its immigration policies and statements about other nations.

While numbers from Tourism Economics project that international travel to the U.S. will fall by 15.2% in 2025 and visits from countries like Germany and Spain have already dropped by more than 25% this spring, Trump told different reporters that this is "not a big deal" and that "tourism is way up."

"Oh, sure, tourism's doing very well," Trump told ABC reporter Terry Moran after he corrected the claim that visitor numbers were up. "We're doing very well. Wait [un]til you see the real numbers come out six months from now."

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'We don't know yet if we really want to go'

Providing their own numbers to investors, airlines such as Air France (AFLYY) and Lufthansa (DLAKF) have also pushed back on claims that tourism to the U.S. is up.

"We know there are a lot of customers that are holding back in buying tickets for a little more clarity on the border and things like that," Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith told investors in an April 29 earnings call that reported a 2.4% decrease in European bookings to the U.S.

In its own earnings call on April 28, Lufthansa also said that travel to the U.S. was down, although chief executive Carsten Spohr expressed hope that it will return to normal numbers by the end of 2025.

"When it comes to vacation trips to the U.S., especially from the German, Austrian, and Swiss markets, it's easy to imagine conversations around the kitchen table where families are saying, 'We don't know yet if we really want to go,'" Spohr said during the earnings call.

Numbers broken down for specific countries by Tourism Economics show that travel to the U.S. from Germany and Spain has fallen by a respective 30% and 25% in March. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows that border crossings from the U.S. to Canada dropped by 12.5% in February and 18% in March.

Germany saw a strong dropoff in U.S.-bound travel in March and April.
Image source: Shutterstock

Travel advisories and border horror stories: why tourists are canceling travel

The two European airlines both beat analyst expectations with first-quarter revenue increases while also reaffirming a positive 2025 outlook due to high demand for travel both within Europe and to different parts of the world.

The steep drop in U.S. travel from Germany in particular comes amid high-profile stories in which nationals like Fabian Schmidt and Jessica Brösche were detained when trying to enter the U.S. last winter. While Brösche was suspected of planning to work in the country illegally, Schmidt had a valid green card and has been living in the U.S. since 2008.

More on travel:

"Even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," the German Ministry wrote in a travel advisory updated after the above stories went public last spring.

Countries like France, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands have all issued similar advisories warning citizens to "expect increased scrutiny" at the U.S. border.