President Trump has threatened to annex Canada. He’s set off trade wars that are harming American and foreign consumers alike. Sided with Russia against Ukraine. And slapped America’s close allies in Europe across the face a few times for no good reason. All of that is spelling serious trouble for international tourism, which contributes more than $2 trillion annually to the national economy. This is bad, and especially bad for New York City.
New York City welcomed 12.9 million foreign tourists in 2024; Canadians made up among the largest contingents, along with Brits and French and Brazilians and Italians. These visitors spend and spend and spend in hotels, in restaurants, in museums and on Broadway. Tourism as a whole supports nearly 400,000 jobs, most of them solid, working- and middle-class positions in hospitality and culture. Visitor spending also generates nearly $7 billion in annual tax revenue — revenue that doesn’t have to come from pockets of New Yorkers.
Under Trump those jobs and that revenue are in danger. (And, double whammy, so are jobs and revenue on Wall Street, as investments crater thanks to Trump’s economically idiotic tariffs.)
The research firm Tourism Economics says international visits to the U.S. are projected to decline by 12.7% compared to baseline projections, with an annual spending loss of $22 billion. New York, the most visited city in the nation, bears the brunt of that trend.
Canadians in particular seem to be staying away. Air Canada reports that transborder flight bookings are down 10% year-over-year for the April-to-September period. Car border crossings from Canada were down 23% this February compared to February of last year.
“I’ve already had 20 bus tours of Canadians cancel. That’s over 1,000 people,” the co-owner of one tour company told Gothamist.
Another tour company that grossed $35,000 from Canadian high school trips to New York City last year expects a massive decline this year.
“This breaks my heart, not just because I can’t employ 15 of the best tour guides in New York City,” that company’s owner said.
It smarts especially that this is happening at a time when huge stars are gracing the stages of Broadway theaters: Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhall in “Othello,” George Clooney in “Good Night and Good Luck” (which just won a rave from Daily News theater critic Chris Jones), Audra McDonald in “Gypsy,” Michelle Williams in “Death Becomes Her,” Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and many more.
Trump claims to care about policies that depress the number of people entering New York City. He railed against congestion pricing by falsely claiming, “It will be virtually impossible for New York City to come back as long as the congestion tax is in effect.” It’s funny but not funny that his own policies are a far bigger drag on his hometown.
Sure, some tourists aren’t canceling their plans — but the numbers and the margins matter
The MAGA hat crowd, purporting to put America First, can scoff and swagger and mutter “who needs em.” The answer is we — red, white and blue-blooded Americans — need them. Badly.
