Trump makes the Swiss and Europeans flee

The United States is no longer popular with European tourists.Image: www.imago-images.de

The United States is no longer really a fashionable destination right now. Arrivals from Western Europe have sometimes greatly fell for the month of March.

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Bad repeated news and twists and turns in the United States currently generate enormous uncertainty around the world. It also impacts the tourism sector.

last week, the great Swiss tour operators still said to watson Not seeing any negative evolution. The first quarter reservations sometimes even exceeded those of the previous year.

The situation was somewhat different from a service provider on a motorcycle and by car. As he revealed to Daily Anzeigerits turnover fell by more than half.

The Financial Times also draws up a dark picture of the economic situation. So, Arrivals from Europe would have literally collapsed with taking office of Donald Trump. According to data from the International Trade Administration, these arrivals decreased in March 17% in one year for Western Europe.

For some countries, it even exceeds 20%. We have selected six among those who experienced the most important drops, from which at least 5,000 people entered the United States each month. Denmark records the strongest tumble, with -34%.

Reverse trend for the Netherlands

However, the situation remains stable for other nations. We sometimes even see a slight increase. Thus, in March, visitors from the Netherlands increased by 3% compared to 2024.

Italy (-3%) or France (-8%) display a more measured decline. It is -14% for the United Kingdom, first in terms of entries in the United States from Western Europe.

But the phenomenon exceeds the borders of the continent, since the whole world records -12% in March. The last time that such a crash occurred, it was in 2021, because of the covid.

Switzerland is no exception

And what about Switzerland? It perfectly follows the trend of Germany, Spain or Denmark. In March there were 26% less travelers from Switzerland compared to the same period a year earlier.

Easter and the covid

It is necessary, however, to take into account two elements: the resumption of tourism after the pandemic caused strong growth at the beginning of 2023. In 2024 too, the figures were generally close to the level before the covid.

In 2024, Easter fell in March, a very busy period. Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, however declared to Financial Times that this does not fully explain the decline. Data from certain airports and land border posts as clearly show that “something is changing. And it’s a reaction to Trump. ”

Clearly below the long -term average

Let’s take the entries from Switzerland the absolute figures since 2016:

The approximately 24,500 entries on American soil from Switzerland in March 2025 are significantly lower than the average (COVID years excluded) from previous years. We only recorded less than 30,000 monthly arrivals in 2017. In 2016, record year, every day Easter holidays were located in March, a unique case. In 2024, Easter Monday fell on April 1.

Translated and adapted by Valentine Zenker

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