Kathimerini Greece Newsroom
The global tariff war initiated by the Trump administration will have a negative impact on the US economy in 2025, as European and Canadian tourists change their plans.
Canadians, whom Trump threatened first with high tariffs, and also promised to annex their country as the 51st state, have responded the quickest: Reservations for US travel for the period up to September have dropped 70% compared to 2024. And Europeans, also spooked by the apparently arbitrary arrests of traveling European academics and tourists, are following, to a lesser extent so far.
The US economy has already reacted: Airfares, hotel rates and car rental priced dropped in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
European countries are already seeing higher reservations by Canadians. But will they be enough to counter the loss from the expected decline in US visitor arrivals? Especially since US visitors tend to also be high spenders.
In Greece’s case, Kathimerini has already reported that industry professionals are seeing two kinds of dangers stemming from the post-pandemic explosion of tourist arrivals: first, that tourism is a perpetual cash cow that requires no additional public and private investment, especially in improving deficient public infrastructure. And, second, that it has become too overblown, creating more problems than benefits.
