• by Tanya Gazdik , March 24, 2025

Tourism in the United States could suffer due to advisories by multiple countries about traveling here. 

All the feel-good ad campaigns by hotels, airlines and tourism organizations fly in the face of news stories about detentions at the U.S. border.

“As the U.S. tightens immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, both the United Kingdom and Germany have updated their travel advisories to warn citizens that holding a valid visa or ESTA authorization does not guarantee entry into the country,” according to USA Today. “The updated guidance follows a series of detainments involving European travelers who were denied entry at U.S. borders – some even arrested or held in detention before being sent home. Among the incidents, two German nationals were stopped at the southern border earlier this week.”

U.S. travelers have long consulted the U.S. warnings when considering travel. Now, the warning are against the U.S. And it’s not just about visas or immigration status. 

“Tourists who run afoul of the Trump administration’s cultural conservatism could have additional problems. Germany, Denmark, and Finland have warned their citizens that the U.S. may deny entry to transgender and nonbinary tourists since the U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization used by Europeans for visa-free travel doesn’t allow foreign visitors to select anything other than male or female,” according to New York magazine. “Germany and Denmark both allow their citizens to designate ‘X’ as their gender on passports.”

Tourism is big business in the United States. 

“In 2024, more than 13 million people visited the U.S. from western Europe alone, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration," per NPR. “And at least 1.5 million people have visited so far this year, according to February data from the department's National Travel and Tourism Office.

"Spending by those visiting the U.S. this year could also 'fall by 12.3%, amounting to a $22 billion annual loss,' according to a February report by travel data company Tourism Economics.”

A Canadian woman reported being detained recently. The news stories about her detention are disturbing and include a first-person account published in The Guardian. 

“I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky,” she writes. 

Canada has joined the European countries in issuing a travel advisory.

“The advisory update comes amid reports that Canadian and other foreign tourists have been detained at the U.S. border over visa concerns and documentation mismatches,” according to Newsweek. “The move also follows an executive order from Trump that rescinded policies allowing transgender, intersex and nonbinary individuals to update their passport sex designation, replacing it with a binary-only system of male or female recognition.”

The advisories mark a rare instance of multiple NATO allies publicly cautioning citizens about travel to the United States, notes Newsweek.