4 Countries Reportedly Experiencing Tourism Declines

Tourism rarely tells a single story. While global travel surged back toward pre-pandemic highs in recent years, some destinations have watched their visitor counts slip away, defying the optimistic forecasts that painted 2024 and 2025 as breakthrough recovery years. The reasons differ wildly from place to place. Some countries wrestle with political headwinds or visa complexities. Others simply can’t shake a reputation problem, no matter how many promotional campaigns they launch.

Here’s the thing: The nations struggling the most aren’t always the ones you’d expect. These aren’t remote islands or conflict zones necessarily. Several major economies and tourist hotspots find themselves in decline, revealing uncomfortable truths about what travelers value today and what turns them away.

United States Facing Unprecedented Drop

The United States stood alone as the only country among 184 economies to see international visitor spending decrease from 2024 to 2025, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Through May 2025, year-to-date international arrivals to the United States were down 2.4% from the same period in 2024, a decline from April 2025, when year-to-date international arrivals were 1.1% below 2024 levels. International visitor spending in the U.S. fell to just under $169 billion in 2025, down from $181 billion in 2024, representing a 22.5% decline compared to the previous peak. The economic impact stretched far beyond hotels and attractions. The number of international visitors fell from 72.4 million in 2024 to 67.9 million in 2025, reversing years of post-pandemic recovery and pushing total inbound travel to just 85 percent of 2019 levels.

Canadian arrivals fell particularly sharply. In the first half of 2025, Canadian arrivals to the U.S. dropped nearly 18% year over year, representing a decline of more than 1,750,000 visits. Political rhetoric and new visa fees appeared to have dampened enthusiasm. Visitors from Western Europe declined 5.5% compared to the same period one year earlier, while arrivals from Africa plummeted 15.6% in November 2025. States like New York, California, and Florida feel the losses most acutely, given their heavy reliance on international tourism dollars. Industry experts cite concerns ranging from immigration enforcement to gun violence perceptions as factors weighing on traveler sentiment.

China Struggles With International Appeal

In 2024, 32.0 million international visitors traveled to China, representing a 10% decrease from the 35.5 million visitors in 2023. This puts China at roughly half its 2019 peak, when the country welcomed over 65 million tourists. During the first nine months of 2024, fewer than 23 million foreign tourists visited China, far below government ambitions. The decline persists despite visa-free initiatives designed to attract Western visitors.

Let’s be real: Beijing’s policies during and after the 2020 pandemic left lasting scars on its tourism reputation. The number of visitors from key markets like Western countries, Japan and South Korea has significantly decreased, with these tourists having been replaced by visitors from neighboring countries like Russia, Mongolia and Vietnam, who typically spend less. Payment difficulties for international credit cards and complex mobile payment registration processes create further headaches for would-be visitors.

Domestic tourism within China is actually thriving, which cushions the economic blow somewhat. Still, the absence of high-spending international tourists represents a strategic setback for a nation that once ranked fourth globally in tourist arrivals.

Hong Kong Far Below Record Highs

Hong Kong recorded 44.5 million visitors in 2024 according to provisional government figures, falling short of earlier forecasts and lagging far below the record high of 65 million in 2018. In 2018, Hong Kong welcomed over 65 million visitors, but that number dropped sharply to under 34 million in 2023, with a slight rebound to nearly 40 million by the end of 2024, attributed to several factors including political unrest, the 2020 pandemic, and an exodus of expatriates.

Spending by overnight visitors plunged by nearly -40% year-on-year in 2023 with a further decline expected in 2024, according to the Tourism Board. Mainland Chinese visitors account for about three-quarters of arrivals, but they’ve changed their spending habits dramatically, no longer splurging on luxury retail the way they once did. Hong Kong’s cultural distinctiveness seems to be fading, making it harder to differentiate itself from other Asian hubs like Singapore, which recovered more robustly.

The government has thrown mega-events and courtesy campaigns at the problem, but results have been underwhelming. In the first half of 2024, 110 mega-events attracted only 550,000 visitors, a fraction of the 3.5 million monthly average, suggesting that such events alone may not be the solution. Long-haul markets have been especially slow to return, partly because flight frequencies haven’t matched pre-Covid levels.

Thailand Reverses Recent Gains

Thailand’s tourism industry is bracing for a decline in foreign arrivals this year, with officials projecting about 32 million international visitors by year-end, down 9.8% from 35.5 million in 2024. Thailand only attracted 16.6 million foreign arrivals in the first half, dipping 4.6% year-on-year in 2025. The slide represents a striking reversal after Thailand seemed poised to reclaim its position as one of Asia’s premier destinations.

Safety concerns loom large in this decline. The safety perception of Thailand has plunged to 19%, from 26% in September 2024, according to the latest Chinese Traveller Sentiment Report. Stories of scams, boat accidents, and crime have circulated widely on Chinese social media, creating a perception problem that visa waivers alone can’t fix. The Tourism Authority of Thailand attributes the drop to flooding in southern provinces during peak season and tensions along the Thailand-Cambodia border that have dampened tourism sentiment in recent months.

Chinese visitors, who once dominated Thailand’s tourism landscape, remain far below their 2019 levels despite doubling between 2023 and 2024. Thailand’s tourism sector experienced a sharp reversal in 2025, with only January posting gains. The month saw 3.71 million visitors – a 22% increase from last year – before the market turned negative for the remaining eleven months. Price competitiveness has also slipped as travelers seek better value destinations.

Additional Markets Show Warning Signs

Several other destinations showed troubling patterns, even though comprehensive 2025 data remained limited. Countries heavily dependent on Chinese outbound tourism felt ripples from China’s domestic economic challenges and shifting travel preferences among younger Chinese tourists. The figure was still far from the 11 million arrivals seen pre-pandemic, with Kasikorn Research Centre forecasting 7.5 million Chinese tourists in 2025, an 11.4% rise from 2024, representing only 68% of 2019 levels for some Southeast Asian markets.

European destinations that thrived post-pandemic now face headwinds as travelers redistribute spending. The strong U.S. dollar ironically works against American tourism but benefits Americans traveling abroad, creating imbalances elsewhere. Middle Eastern nations, by contrast, have surged ahead, with Saudi Arabia transforming its tourism sector and drawing visitors at rates exceeding pre-pandemic benchmarks.

Climate concerns and overtourism backlash in certain areas have also shifted traveler preferences, though these factors affect specific regions rather than entire countries uniformly. Islands and coastal areas vulnerable to environmental degradation report mixed results, with some implementing visitor caps that inherently limit growth.

Tourism’s recovery clearly isn’t lifting all boats equally. What’s striking is how quickly sentiment can shift and how stubbornly problems can persist once they take hold. Whether these represent temporary setbacks or structural shifts remains the billion-dollar question for tourism ministries worldwide.