This was supposed to be a big year for US tourism. But long wait times at airports and rising anti-American sentiment are causing some travellers to reconsider their plans.
Travellers at US airports around the country recently experienced wait times up to four hours, the longest in the 24-year history of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The culprit was a partial government shutdown, which is now entering its seventh week and is the longest in US history.
The shutdown left TSA screeners working without pay for more than a month, prompting thousands to call out of work and more than 500 officers to quit. While a presidential directive signed on 30 March restored TSA workers’ pay and aims to cut airport wait times significantly, the headlines and photos of long queues are the latest in a string of headwinds facing US travel and tourism.
This global travel disruption couldn’t have come at a worse time for the US. The country is co-hosting the Fifa World Cup this summer, celebrating the centenary of Route 66 and marking its 250th year of independence in 2026. In a normal year, any one of those milestones would give the American travel industry reason to celebrate. Instead, the nation is contending with a mix of bad perception and unpopular policy that saw its 2025 tourism decline by 5.4%, even as the rest of the world grew its international tourism by 4%, according to the World Tourism Barometer. Canadian visitation to the US dropped by 22% in 2025 compared to 2024, the steepest decline of any market.
