Where Tourism Is Really Falling: The 10 Cities With The Sharpest International Visitor Declines In 2025
How We Built This List
To avoid the fuzzy math in some coverage, this ranking is based on one specific, transparent metric:
Year over year change in international air passenger traffic in June 2025, by metro area, for the 15 most visited U S cities.
The underlying numbers come from a compiled data set that aggregates official airport statistics for international enplanements and compares each 2025 month with the same month in 2024.
The 15 metros in that file are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC, Honolulu, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, San Diego, Dallas and Seattle. For each city we looked at the total row and pulled the June 2025 year over year percentage.
Separately, national projections from global travel and tourism analysts show
- International visitor spending in the U S is expected to fall about 7% in 2025, roughly 12 and a half billion dollars less than 2024
- International overnight arrivals are projected to drop about 8.2% this year, with Canadian visitation down more than 20 percent year to date
So the city level declines below sit inside a broader national slump, driven by weaker sentiment, a strong dollar and new U S entry rules that have made foreign visitors more cautious.
San Francisco Bay Area also shows a small decline at about minus 0 point 7 percent but falls just outside this top ten. Several other cities in the file actually grew, including San Diego, Seattle and Boston.
National Headwinds: Why International Travel To The U S Is Slumping
Before diving into each city, it is worth spelling out the macro drivers behind these numbers.
- Policy and sentiment shock. Several forecast revisions have downgraded the outlook for U S inbound travel after a series of visa, screening and fee changes, including new social media disclosure rules for visitors and higher visa related fees
- Big drop in Canadian visitors. Forecasts now show Canadian visitation to the U S down roughly a quarter year to date, with land crossings hit especially hard
- Spending is falling even where headcounts are flat. Estimates suggest international visitor spending in the U S will decline by about seven percent this year, to just under 169 billion dollars, even though overall global travel is still growing
Against that backdrop, here is what the air traffic data is showing in the hardest hit cities.
City Snapshots
1. Las Vegas: Largest Percentage Drop Among Major U S Gateways
Las Vegas shows the steepest June decline of the group, with international air traffic down about 9.8% compared with June 2024.
This sits on top of growing concern from local officials about softening demand from Canada and Mexico, traditionally two of the city’s most important feeder markets. Las Vegas’s mayor has publicly described Canadian demand dropping from a faucet to a drip, and multiple data sets back up a double digit slide in Canadian visits to the U S overall.
For hotel operators, that means lower inbound high roller and convention traffic at a time when room supply and rates remain high, which is exactly the dynamic some recent hotel performance reports have flagged for the Strip.
2. Miami Metro: Canadian And European Weakness Hits The Gateways
Miami plus its satellite airports at Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach show a combined 4.5% decline in June international traffic.
The Miami market remains one of the busiest U S gateways for Latin America, but it also depends heavily on Canada and Europe, two regions that are now sending fewer visitors to the U S overall. Weaker Canadian land and air crossings and softer demand from major European markets are both showing up in recent inbound forecasts.
3. Honolulu: A Sliding Pacific Pipeline
Honolulu’s international air arrivals were about 3.8% lower in June 2025 than a year earlier.
Japan and South Korea are crucial to Hawaii’s visitor mix, and both markets have been slow to recover to pre 2019 levels. Broader weakness from several Asian markets into the U S lines up with Honolulu’s modest but meaningful decline.
4. New York City: High Volumes, Small Decline
New York has the largest total international traffic in the data set, but its combined airports still show a 3.6% June decline year over year.
That drop may not sound dramatic, yet a three to four percent hit on a base of nearly 4 point 7 million international passengers in a single month translates into tens of thousands of missing visitors. For hotels in Manhattan and nearby boroughs that lean on European and Canadian travelers, that softening shows up quickly in occupancy and rate pressure.
5. Orlando: Fewer International Families And Tour Groups
Orlando’s international air traffic also fell about 3.8% in June.
Theme parks and big family attractions rely on long haul visitors who stay longer and spend more. The same sentiment and policy headwinds that are discouraging European and Canadian trips to Las Vegas and New York are playing out here as well, showing up as slightly thinner arrivals at Orlando’s airports even while domestic travel into Florida remains resilient.
6. Dallas Fort Worth: Quiet Slide In A Major Hub
Dallas Fort Worth International’s June international volume was about 2.9% lower than last year, giving the metro the sixth largest decline in this group.
As a central U S hub, Dallas serves both origin visitors and connecting traffic. A drop of nearly three percent indicates weaker demand from some overseas origin markets, which aligns with reports that several long haul carriers have trimmed U S capacity for 2025.
7. Atlanta: Decline At The World’s Busiest Hub
Atlanta’s June 2025 international traffic is down roughly 2.4% compared with June 2024.
Because Atlanta is such a large connecting hub, even a small percentage decline signals a broader softening in U S inbound flows from Europe and Latin America. For downtown hotels and convention properties, the impact shows up in slightly fewer international guests and more reliance on domestic travelers to fill rooms.
8. Chicago: Modest Decline In A Key Transatlantic Gateway
The Chicago metro, combining O Hare and Midway, saw about a 2.3% year over year decline in June international traffic.
Chicago remains a primary entry point for travelers from Germany, the United Kingdom and other European markets. Softer demand from parts of Western Europe, influenced by political tension, higher U S travel costs and concerns over stricter border screening, is part of the story behind the decline.
9. Los Angeles: Fewer Long Haul Arrivals Even As Overall Volumes Stay High
Los Angeles area airports show a combined 2.2% decline in June international traffic.
California is front and center in much of the coverage about weakening inbound travel to the U S. A mix of economic factors, a strong dollar and new U S entry rules is weighing on demand from Asia and parts of Europe, which hits Los Angeles and its surrounding airports directly.
10. Washington DC Metro: Policy Center Feeling The Squeeze
The Washington region’s airports together recorded about a 1.3% decline in June 2025 international traffic.
For a region that depends heavily on diplomatic, NGO and business travel, even a small drop in international arrivals matters. Heightened security screening, more restrictive visa policies and a cooler diplomatic climate with some allies are all factors that analysts say are weighing on inbound travel to the U S capital.
Not Every City Is Down
The same data set shows that some U S destinations are still attracting more international flyers than a year ago
- San Diego June international traffic up roughly 14 percent year over year
- Seattle up close to 10 percent in June
- Boston posting a smaller but positive June increase
Those gains show that global travel demand has not disappeared. Instead, international visitors are becoming more selective about where they go in the U S, and some are choosing alternative destinations entirely, especially in Europe and Asia, where visa processes feel easier and political tensions are lower.
Why This Matters For Hotels And Travel Managers
For hotel operators, revenue managers and anyone booking significant room nights into the U S, the key takeaway is that the current slump is uneven. Some marquee metros are seeing meaningful drops in international arrivals while others are still growing. Layer that on top of domestic demand, airline capacity and local events, and you get a very different outlook by city.
Having transparent, city level data like this lets you separate signal from noise. Instead of reacting to vague claims about severe declines, you can see that Las Vegas truly is losing almost ten percent of its international air traffic, while San Diego and Seattle are actually growing, and then plan pricing, marketing and group strategy accordingly.
