Fewer foreign tourists are visiting NYC. The city's businesses are feeling the pinch

CNN

11 hours ago

Bill Martin says he has heard all kinds of concerns lately from people considering a visit to the United States.
'Worries about getting in, worries about being detained at the border. I think there is a worldwide fear about what is happening here,' said the Australian, who spoke to CNN recently while on an open-air bus tour of New York City.
Martin is on a six-week trip that's included a cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver and a stopover in New York. Along the way he says he's had lots of conversations with his fellow travelers about how the US' status as a magnet for tourists has changed.
'There is doubt as to whether people will get in (to the country),' he added. 'And that causes people to think of a better destination to visit than the USA.'
Eman Moretti, an Italian who is studying in the United States, said President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policies have made him nervous about his family visiting him in New York.
'With Trump it was a bit harder even for them to come,' said the student, flanked by his mother, father and his two brothers on a recent midday stroll through Times Square. 'It was challenging, because you never know if people get in through customs. So it was a bit (of a) hostile environment.'
'Your visa could be canceled,' added Javier Muenala, visiting Times Square from Ecuador. 'So it's a lot of risks that many people don't want to take.'
This anxiety from foreigners about travel to the US in 2025 is increasingly reflected in the numbers. Spending by international travelers to the United States is expected to be down $12.5 billion this year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Some of the nation's leading tourist destinations, including Orlando, Miami and Los Angeles, are bracing for how the decline will impact businesses that rely on spending from international travelers.
The downturn is being felt especially hard in New York City, the nation's top destination for international travel.
New York City Tourism + Conventions, the city's official marketing organization, has cut its forecast for international tourists in 2025 by 17%. Julie Coker, the group's CEO and president, told CNN the city is expected to host 2 million fewer international travelers this year than in 2024.
'We are still hopeful, but we are starting to see the bookings slow down some,' Coker said.
'International tourism is extremely important to us because while it only makes up 20 percent of our total visitation, it accounts for 50 percent of our visitor spend. This was to be the year we were to hit pre-Covid levels … and so to have this stall or pause it's what's disappointing.'
New York City is the most popular port of entry for international visitors to the US. And more people historically visit the US from Canada than from any other country. But there's recent evidence that some Canadians, offended by the political rhetoric coming from Washington, are boycotting the US.
Coker says the decline in New York City tourism is partly the result of having fewer Canadian visitors.
Tour operators such as Matt Levy, who has seen a slowdown in business, agrees.
'They're going to Halifax, they're going to Nova Scotia, they're going to Vancouver. They're spending money in their own country, said Levy, owner of Spread Love Tours, which offers customized tours of New York for art lovers, foodies, families and other groups.
Levy has been leading tours of the city for three years. He says much of his business relies on international tourism, especially Canadian student groups.
But in recent months Levy says Canadian travel agents have told him their clients are avoiding the States because they're unnerved by threats of tariffs or turned off by Trump's comments about making Canada the 51st state.
Levy said that if the political climate doesn't improve, business for him will likely be even worse in 2026.
'Next year is going to be hard. Next year is going to be vicious,' he said.
'My three largest Canadian clients, all three of them told me universally (that) the PTA boards aren't going to let the kids come to America. They're going to say, no, we're going to spend money in our country instead,' he said. 'That's 40 percent of my business.'
Renée Rewiski has been a tour guide in New York City for more than a decade and says she has not seen numbers like this since the doldrums of the Covid-19 pandemic.
'This time last year (we had) 20 people on the tour. We have five today,' Rewiski said on a recent day as she led a handful of tourists around lower Manhattan. 'I'm just seeing fewer people and from fewer countries,' she said.
Rewiski is a guide with Tours by Foot, which offers walking tours of such landmark New York neighborhoods as Brooklyn, Harlem and Greenwich Village. She worries that if something does not change soon, jobs could be at risk.
'I'm not sure what we can do. I'm not sure how to change the attitudes, but just know people are losing their jobs in New York City (and) you're hurting the wrong people,' she said, addressing her comments to foreign tourists.
'The people who are doing some of the things you're not liking are not the ones getting hurt,' she added. 'We're the ones that are being hurt.'
Despite the recent headwinds, no one CNN spoke to in the New York travel industry says they're giving up. The hope is the heated political climate will cool down and events such as the 2026 World Cup in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey, and the US' 250th anniversary next summer will boost interest among international visitors.
In the meantime, Coker of NYC Tourism + Conventions says her organization has been promoting the city with a campaign that's been running since May outside the US. It's called, 'With Love + Liberty, New York City.'
Coker has a message for anyone thinking about visiting the Big Apple.
'What we say to them is… New York City is open for business,' she says. 'And while we have hit a bump in the road, we're here when you're ready to visit.'