The co-captaining of the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada was once expected to bring a wave of powerful tourist guerrillas to America. However, the country tourism is facing bleak reality. In Kansas City, where the games of many major teams were played, 85% of the housing facility said the rate was much lower than expected.

Cirium Aviation Analysis says the number of reservations in July dropped 14% from the same year. The Telegraph identified the tournament as possibly "truck shock" rather than the tourist boom that FIFA officials have promised over the years.

The biggest cause of American tourism lost points is expensive costs and extensive administrative procedures. The hotel system and the fare of tickets to the American games are far higher than the two co-owners.

In addition, the cost of the cost of road transport between the organized cities also caused fans to give way to pause, turning to the choice of watching games in Mexico or Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds the FIFA World Cup Gold Cup. Photo: AFP

In fact, the decline of the U.S. smokeless industry has been appearing since before the tournament. Research from the World Travel and Travel Council (WTTC) pointed out the number of international visitors to the U.S. in 2025 dropped 5.5% compared to the year 2024 This has been the deepest drop in the last 20 years, just after the pandemic period and passed the entire period of global economic recession in 2008.

Gloria Guadalupe, director of WTTC, remarked that America needed to improve its policy to become a more friendly destination before losing her position in the hands of major competitors in Asia.

This decline brings major financial damage. WTTC states that the total cost of visitors to the United States has been missing $8.4 billion due to the reduction of customers. Meanwhile, the American Tourism Journal estimates the number of actual damages to up to $25 billion if calculated at the rate of expected growth.

The April Report of WTTC asserts that the world has an additional 80 million international tourists, but they choose other destinations outside the United States, the most heavily reduced populations from Germany, India, France, Chile, Australia and China. In contrast, Mexico - the American neighboring country - increased a million more international visitors in 2025 versus 220,000.

The Vitravel's tour group takes a souvenir photo at Times Square, New York, USA.

The absence of international guests directly impacted U.S. domestic services businesses.[citation needed] Joe Koenen, CEO of Seattle Free Walking Tours, said that despite spending large budgets never before for online advertising, the set of company tours continued to decline.

At Santa Monica, California, Adam Duford, owner of Sfref City Tours, even had to fire all seven employees last October. The company's 2025 sales were not even half as much as the previous years. Currently, Duford is still trying to pay off the loan from the Covid era.

Even the "large" entertainment is not beyond influence. In Disney's most recent quarter report, executives said that the number of visitors to the domestic amusement park had fallen by 1% over the same year, "releasing part of the constant decline in international population". The rate of filling Disney's domestic hotel room also dropped, from 92% a year ago to 89% in this year's quarter II.

John Stewart photographed the souvenirs during his visits to America years ago. Image: CNN

In addition to economic factors, the barrier from the immigration procedure from the late 2025 was also the reason why visitors turned their backs. Warnings on the delay of visas and information on additional visa acquisitions, 5-year social networking history checks have reduced customers' beliefs.

The U.S. National Tourism Organization (Brand USA) recently launched a campaign to "building trust for tourists" and clarifying false information, which included making clear the visa authentic fees that had not yet been collected and proposed the record of social networking activity for five years of some visitors who were not the current policy.

However, these efforts are rated as late as the passenger line has changed course. John Stewart, a Canadian tourist, spent about $10,000 on American tours every spring for the last 35 years, stating that this year he cancelled his plans due to his discomfort with U.S. foreign policies. Similarly, Caesar and his wife, Jane Nagai, recently spent tens of thousands of dollars on the trip to Japan, instead of New York. He said they had plans to return to Japan and would also reach Vienna and Italy in the near future.

The National Travel and Travel Office predicts that international visitors to the US will not exceed the pandemic until 2029, which is a decade later.

The World Cup is a rare bright spot. Adam Sacks, chairman of Tourism Economics data analysis, said that the games expected to attract about 1 million visitors to the U.S. this year, so the benefits for the city's directors would be significant, although the sales of hotels in groups were not as strong as those cities expected.

Mr. Sacks said that FIFA had predicted the amount of visitors to be equal to 100 Super Bowls (The Football Cup), but in fact would only be about 10 Super Bowl games, which would not be enough to compensate for the losses in 2025.

In order to get out of this difficult situation, Sacks said that American leaders needed to start by full investment in the "American brand", reducing harsh words, especially against their allies and "interrupting themselves. "

"We'll get through this, too, it's only a matter of how long," said Sacks.