People in France snubbing US travel, report travel agents

People in France are snubbing the US as a travel destination this year, travel agents are reporting, in a move that has been blamed on the political context and Trump presidency.

Jean-François Rial, who has managed travel agency Voyageurs du Monde for 30 years, said that his booking figures for tours of California, Arizona and Louisiana have dropped by 20%.

People are “flocking to Canada and Mexico” instead, said Mr Rial to Le Monde.

He said he believes the trend is linked “to the political context, in defiance of Trump's actions”. He said it was rare for travel plans to be altered “for political reasons”, compared to security issues or in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

"For political reasons, it's rare,” he said.

Another travel agency, Evaneos, also said that its bookings to the US are down by 11%, with a spokesperson saying that Trump’s arrival had prompted tourists to “give up on” their US holiday planning process.

“We saw a real difference after the Oval Office episode,” said Valérie Boned, CEO of travel organiser Entreprises du Voyage, referring to Mr Trump’s controversial stand off with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

She said that group travel - which tends to attract less experienced travellers - had declined particularly. 

Similarly, a report by global travel data intelligence company Oxford Tourism Economics, using data to April 2, said that international travel to the US was predicted to decrease by 9% in 2025, equating to US$9 billion (€8.2 billion) of lost profit for the industry.

The decrease is particularly seen among Canadians, whose visitor numbers are set to drop by 20% (as an average of the decrease in travellers by land and air), Oxford Tourism Economics said.

Similarly, “overseas visitor arrivals to the US in March contracted 11.6%, with particularly sharp declines from Germany and the UK”, it said, of travel figures last month.

“In recent months, we have seen a drop in bookings of between 12% and 25% compared to last year,” said Ms Boned to Le Parisien. 

“All sectors are affected, from mid-range to high-end, including youth travel, group travel, tailor-made holidays, park visits, city breaks to New York or Los Angeles, and more.”

The trend has also been seen in the prices of plane tickets to the US, which have dropped as a result of the lack of demand in US holidays, Le Parisien reports.

Cost of living

Some tourists from France have been put off from travelling to the US because of the increased costs there and the weakness of the euro against the US dollar, said Aurélien Aufort, director of tour operator Voyamar.

"Hotels, dining... Everything has gone up at least 25-30% in four years, while the euro is weak against the dollar. And this is reflected in travel prices,” he said.

Difficult border experiences

The report also said that the prospect of more difficult border crossings were also deterring tourists. It highlighted the case of a French researcher from national research centre CNRS, who was denied entry to the US in March, after his phone and laptop were searched by US border agents.

The US claimed that the scientist held sensitive data. However, the French research minister criticised the decision, saying that the scientist had been denied entry because he had sent messages that were critical of Mr Trump’s scientific research policies.

This may not be an isolated incident; Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), warned on the ACLU website that travellers to the US can be denied entry to the country “if they refuse to provide a password” to their electronic devices when asked.

In the post, which offers more advice on travellers’ rights regarding their devices, she recommended that travellers who may be carrying sensitive details bring as few devices as possible. 

She also said that travellers can “wipe” devices before travelling, so that no such data remains on the device itself or in offline mode (as agents cannot use the devices to access the internet).