A plane flying above the city of Los Angeles, California. Travel Pulse
Fewer Visitors Coming to the US
Airlines in the United States are preparing for a slower summer. There are fewer international travelers coming in, and people within the US are also flying less. This is causing concern for the travel industry.
One big reason is how people outside the US now view the country. A travel report says some policies and recent events have made the US less attractive to foreign tourists. This includes trade tensions, strict border actions, and safety alerts.
Travel Numbers Are Down
Experts believe that international travel to the US will drop by 8.7% this year. This is slightly better than an earlier prediction of 9.4%. Still, it will cost the US about $8.5 billion in lost spending from international visitors.
There was a small improvement in April. Non-US citizen arrivals went up by 2.9% compared to April last year. But that may have happened only because Easter fell in April this year and not in March like last year.
The top five countries sending travelers to the US in April were Mexico, Canada, the UK, the Dominican Republic, and Japan. Even though nearly 2.5 million Canadians visited the US, the number of Canadian air travelers fell by almost 20%.
Biggest Drops From Canada and Europe
Travel experts say the biggest declines will come from Canada and Western Europe. Canadian visitor numbers may drop by over 20%, while visitors from Western Europe are expected to go down by nearly 6%.
Booking data from April also shows fewer flights planned for the summer. For May through July, bookings are down by almost 11% compared to the same time last year. This trend is even worse for flights from Europe. Bookings from Europe to the US for summer are down 12%.
Less Demand for US Domestic Flights
Travel within the US is also slowing. People with tight budgets are cutting back. They are choosing shorter, cheaper trips. Some are even changing their plans from going abroad to traveling within the country.
One travel survey found that almost 3 in 10 Americans plan to stay in the US instead of going overseas. Airlines are reacting to this drop in demand. United Airlines announced it will cut its summer flight schedule by 4% starting in July. Southwest Airlines also said it would reduce flights later this year.
Flight Issues at Newark Airport
Newark Airport in New Jersey has also been dealing with delays and cancellations. The airport is fixing one of its runways, and air traffic control has been overloaded. The FAA has put a limit on how many flights can take off and land each hour to ease the pressure.
Until June 15, Newark can allow 28 takeoffs and 28 landings per hour. After that, the cap will rise slightly to 34 arrivals and 32 departures. These changes should help flights run more smoothly this summer.
