Travel from Europe to the United States has been trending down for some time, and now a new study shows just how much it has dropped over the last year.
Data from Cirium, a well-known global aviation analytics company, indicates travel to America is down for the fall noticeably when compared to last year.
The numbers from Cirium are collected from third-party bookings, such as travel agencies, and don’t indicate any reservations made directly with airlines.
However, that doesn’t mean that Europe-to-America travel numbers are in a good place overall, writes View from the Wing’s Gary Leff.
“We know that these bookings are down materially. It’s not likely that they’re offset by increased reservations direct with airlines,” Leff said.
Major dips from five main countries
The Cirium data covers bookings made this summer (June-August) for trips to the United States in the fall (September-November).
Hardest hit were reservations from Germany, which are down more than 12% from 2024, with 143,199 total compared to 163,727 at this time last year. Spain, which had 153,541 in 2024, was at 139,699 for this year, a 9% drop.
Italy (209, 766 to 193, 904), the United Kingdom (304,021 to 289,040) and France (137,498 to 133,521) all fell off as well.
A trend that has been brewing
The decline of American travel bookings from Europe is not a new phenomenon. Reuters first mentioned it back in June.
“Overseas arrivals to the United States fell 2.8% in May from a year ago, according to preliminary data from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office within the U.S. Department of Commerce,” Reuters said at the time. “Travel from Western Europe fell 4.4% in May, led by a decline in travelers from Denmark and Germany.
“Forward bookings suggest sustained declines are on the horizon, with total inbound bookings to the U.S. in July down 13% year-over-year, according to OAG Aviation, an analytics firm.”
Earlier this month, CNBC wrote that the U.S. was projected to lose roughly $30 billion in international tourism in 2025. The outlet also examined where Europeans were opting to travel to if they were reconsidering going to the United States, with Latin America, Asia and elsewhere in Europe proving to be popular options.
