To the pessimists who said that tourism would go downhill with the new president of the United States, the truth is that the tourism industry had a very good year in 2024. People didn’t stay home; they spent billions of dollars. Although 2024 saw a rebound driven by domestic travelers, 2025 is on track to stagnate.
The most visited states (to no one’s surprise) were California, Tennessee, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Mississippi. The latter, surprisingly, led a regional expansion that few would have imagined.
U.S. Tourism in 2024
As we have already mentioned, last year’s tourism boom did not come from foreigners, but from Americans themselves traveling around our country. Domestic tourism was one of the biggest anchors of the national economy. Even so, the country received nearly 72.4 million international visitors last year, an encouraging sign for post-pandemic recovery. These international visitors spent approximately $181 billion in the United States.
Believe it or not, the state of Mississippi had a huge impact on tourism. Its tourism sector generates an economic impact of more than $18 billion, attracting 44.2 million visitors. Some cultural events, such as college football and Cruisin’ the Coast, attracted more people than expected.
In the state of Kentucky, for example, tourism had a total impact of $14.3 billion last year. This regional and event-based tourism provided stability.
The state of Tennessee attracted tourism spending of $31.7 billion, driven by music cities such as Nashville and its Smoky Mountains National Park. Wisconsin, on the other hand, achieved spending of $25.8 billion, the third consecutive year of record revenue in the tourism sector. North Carolina also reported fairly strong spending: $26.7 billion, a 3.1 percent increase over the previous year.
California remains the darling of the industry, staying at the top of the list: both domestic and foreign tourists spent a total of $157 billion in the state last year alone.
How will tourism fare in 2025?
Although last year was a good year for the tourism industry, the statistics are not on the side of the tourism sector for 2025. A combination of factors (political and social tension, along with problems obtaining tourist visas) are causing international tourists to prefer other more appealing destinations. The tourism sector predicts that international arrivals will fall by between 6.3% and 9.4% in 2025 compared to last year. That translates into a loss of approximately $12.5 billion in international tourism spending. The upside is that tourism in the United States is currently based on domestic tourism by the country’s own inhabitants.
On the one hand, competition to attract tourists with limited budgets is fierce: the most appealing new destinations are in Europe or Asia. It seems that every influencer aspires to spend two weeks in Bali taking photos to fill their Instagram feed. High costs and inflation also have a significant influence. The budget may be enough for two weeks in Polynesia or a mere five days in the United States. For now, international tourism seems to be seeking quantity over quality, and the natural landscapes of South Asia are much more exotic for social media platforms.
However, the average American still prefers to travel within their own country rather than get a passport and take an international flight. Tourism in the United States remains an incredibly strong domestic engine, which will survive despite the unexpected international slowdown. In the meantime, the tourism service industry will have to adapt and start focusing on regional markets.
For now, we can only wait and see if the tourism industry regulates itself. If no one is visiting places like Las Vegas and NYC, hotels will have to drop their prices and become attractive enough to attract people again, right? And if not, well… Americans will simply stay at home and organize informal poker nights in their living room!