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I visited California last summer and even the most basic 2-star motels — like on the outskirts of San Diego — were going for over $300 a night. Nothing fancy, j

I visited California last summer and even the most basic 2-star motels — like on the outskirts of San Diego — were going for over $300 a night. Nothing fancy, just clean sheets and a door. I think a big part of the drop in European tourism is simple: the U.S. has gotten insanely expensive. Between hotels, food, transportation, and tipping culture, the cost adds up fast. For many travelers, it’s not about politics or safety. It’s just not worth the price.

igor47 1y ago
while it may be true that the US is "insanely expensive" (citation needed!), i'm curious how you square that with the linked data showing a sharp drop-off since the beginning of the trump administration. is the theory that things have gotten much more expensive recently? why was travel from many EU countries actually up just before the trump administration took office?
- herbst 1y ago
  I doubt it has to do much with money. Right now you couldn't even say "I am going to the US for vacation" without getting a strange eye. People are avoiding buying anything with an American flag. Tesla's are literally returned and broken on the streets. Really I highly doubt it's about money at all.
- laurencerowe 1y ago
  The US has gotten insanely expensive for Europeans but that has been happening since 2008. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=US-FR-GB-DE https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?location... The arbitrary detentions of foreign visitors at the border make me feel it would be unwise for my parents to come visit us in the US at the moment - they're too old to risk weeks of immigration detention. They are also now detaining US citizens at the border, though they seem to be focussing on immigration attorneys so hopefully we'll be ok on the way back. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-criminal-us-citizen-says-he-was-detained-returning-from-canada/3686188/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-crimi...
toomuchtodo 1y ago
> For many travelers, it’s not about politics or safety. Tourism Pullback and Boycotts Set to Cost U.S. a Staggering $90 Billion - https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-could-cost-us-a-staggering-90-billion/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-... - April 15th, 2025 World Travelers Are Rethinking Vacation Plans to the US - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/is-it-harder-to-visit-the-us-canadians-europeans-cut-back-travel https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/is-it-har... | https://archive.today/h56ar https://archive.today/h56ar - April 8th, 2025 Europeans: European tourists shun US following Trump election - https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-tourists-shun-us-following-140027829.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-tourists-shun-us-followi... - April 12th, 2025 European travellers cancel US visits as Trump’s policies threaten tourism - https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118127 https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118... | https://archive.today/yLUvW https://archive.today/yLUvW - April 11th, 2025 ‘It’s like our friend started a fist fight with us’: These Europeans are skipping US travel - https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/travel/european-travelers-skipping-us-trips/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/travel/european-travelers-ski... - April 9th, 2025 Canadians: Canadian Car Travel To U.S. Plunges 32% In March As Boycott Escalates - https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/04/14/canadian-travel-usa-boycott-escalates/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/04/14... | https://archive.today/RdlUN https://archive.today/RdlUN - April 14th, 2025 Airlines Cut Seats to the U.S. as Canadians Stay Away - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/canada/air-canada-flights-seats-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/canada/air-canada-f... | https://archive.today/SkgBu https://archive.today/SkgBu - March 28th, 2025
mytailorisrich 1y ago
Are the US becoming expensive or are Europeans becoming poor compared to Americans? All data from income to GDP show that Europe is falling behind so perhaps this is when numbers become real...
- timeon 1y ago
  Probably, but still those who can afford it, reconsider if the experience is worth the money - like with life expectancy where poorest Europeans are on the level of richest Americans. Sometimes you can get more with less money.
- bediger4000 1y ago
  That seems like an Occam's Razor violation given all Trump's admin efforts to penalize non-white people.
- herbst 1y ago
  Tourism in Switzerland is growing and not getting cheaper either.
  - mytailorisrich 1y ago
    Perhaps but that's not relevant to the comment I was replying to and to the point of my reply. Neither were about the potential impact of Trump's presidency.
- rsynnott 1y ago
  The USD just fell sharply relative to the euro; if anything you'd expect a small _spike_ in travel, not the massive sharp decrease shown on the graph.
- zeroc8 1y ago
  Maybe the US just has just lost its fascination. I mean, we are bombarded with America's stupidity amost every day, why spend our vacation there? The whole travel experience just sucks anyway and at the border you are treated like the next Osama Bin Laden. Compare this to travelling inside the EU, where we enjoy complete freedom of travel, good food, nice cities, safety and general rationality. It's just way more pleasant over here.
alabastervlog 1y ago
This does not hold for any but a very-few expensive markets, and even there, not most of the time. Hell, I stayed in Manhattan a few months back with my kids, and for two beds in a room just a couple blocks from Times Square, in a hotel that I'd classify as one full step up from "just clean sheets and a door", we didn't pay $300/night, even with those being a Friday and Saturday night. And that was the most expensive hotel I've ever paid for in my life. You went somewhere very unusual and probably managed to hit on a peak weekend for whatever reason.
- gjfxdfyu 1y ago
  I’d like to know the name of this hotel because this sounds ridiculous. NYC hotels are notoriously expensive.
  - alabastervlog 1y ago
    I picked that example exactly because it's infamously expensive, and I had recent direct experience. A quick search for an arbitrary Friday and Saturday night next month gives a ton of options right around $300/night in Midtown, plus plenty under $300. I wanna say we paid around $220 or $240 a night. I did shop a little (maybe twenty minutes?) to find one that low that seemed pretty good (and was in fact pretty good) My point is hitting $300/night in San Diego... and not even in a desirable location in San Diego, for a very-basic hotel... seems like an outlier, when you can get in (at least a little) under that in Midtown Manhattan of all places.
kowabungalow 1y ago
I've talked to plenty of people who regret having future tickets for travel to the US. I assume they were aware of the costs and considered them in their itinerary just as people have always had to for NYC, etc.
kylehotchkiss 1y ago
I live `on the outskirts of San Diego` (~30 min north, <10 miles to coast) and Marriott branded hotels (not motels) is currently listed as $125/night in spring break season. The hotel pricing argument to me indicates travel at peak season or insisting on being in the most touristy areas. I will accept arguments on rental cars and dining/tips though (protip to any intl travelers, you can skip tipping on everything except table-service dining, Americans hit skip on every other prompt, the whole tip prompt everywhere thing was driven by payment processors wanting to increase their own profits)
- herbst 1y ago
  This is the price i pay for a semi fancy hotel in Switzerland, 10 minutes outside of a city well connected and public transport included.

igor47 1y ago

while it may be true that the US is "insanely expensive" (citation needed!), i'm curious how you square that with the linked data showing a sharp drop-off since the beginning of the trump administration. is the theory that things have gotten much more expensive recently? why was travel from many EU countries actually up just before the trump administration took office?

herbst 1y ago
I doubt it has to do much with money. Right now you couldn't even say "I am going to the US for vacation" without getting a strange eye. People are avoiding buying anything with an American flag. Tesla's are literally returned and broken on the streets. Really I highly doubt it's about money at all.
laurencerowe 1y ago
The US has gotten insanely expensive for Europeans but that has been happening since 2008. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=US-FR-GB-DE https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?location... The arbitrary detentions of foreign visitors at the border make me feel it would be unwise for my parents to come visit us in the US at the moment - they're too old to risk weeks of immigration detention. They are also now detaining US citizens at the border, though they seem to be focussing on immigration attorneys so hopefully we'll be ok on the way back. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-criminal-us-citizen-says-he-was-detained-returning-from-canada/3686188/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-crimi...

toomuchtodo 1y ago

> For many travelers, it’s not about politics or safety. Tourism Pullback and Boycotts Set to Cost U.S. a Staggering $90 Billion - https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-could-cost-us-a-staggering-90-billion/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-... - April 15th, 2025 World Travelers Are Rethinking Vacation Plans to the US - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/is-it-harder-to-visit-the-us-canadians-europeans-cut-back-travel https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/is-it-har... | https://archive.today/h56ar https://archive.today/h56ar - April 8th, 2025 Europeans: European tourists shun US following Trump election - https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-tourists-shun-us-following-140027829.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-tourists-shun-us-followi... - April 12th, 2025 European travellers cancel US visits as Trump’s policies threaten tourism - https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118127 https://www.ft.com/content/6dc16a54-8de1-4f3b-8409-ecb566118... | https://archive.today/yLUvW https://archive.today/yLUvW - April 11th, 2025 ‘It’s like our friend started a fist fight with us’: These Europeans are skipping US travel - https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/travel/european-travelers-skipping-us-trips/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/travel/european-travelers-ski... - April 9th, 2025 Canadians: Canadian Car Travel To U.S. Plunges 32% In March As Boycott Escalates - https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/04/14/canadian-travel-usa-boycott-escalates/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/04/14... | https://archive.today/RdlUN https://archive.today/RdlUN - April 14th, 2025 Airlines Cut Seats to the U.S. as Canadians Stay Away - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/canada/air-canada-flights-seats-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/canada/air-canada-f... | https://archive.today/SkgBu https://archive.today/SkgBu - March 28th, 2025

mytailorisrich 1y ago

Are the US becoming expensive or are Europeans becoming poor compared to Americans? All data from income to GDP show that Europe is falling behind so perhaps this is when numbers become real...

timeon 1y ago
Probably, but still those who can afford it, reconsider if the experience is worth the money - like with life expectancy where poorest Europeans are on the level of richest Americans. Sometimes you can get more with less money.
bediger4000 1y ago
That seems like an Occam's Razor violation given all Trump's admin efforts to penalize non-white people.
herbst 1y ago
Tourism in Switzerland is growing and not getting cheaper either.
- mytailorisrich 1y ago
  Perhaps but that's not relevant to the comment I was replying to and to the point of my reply. Neither were about the potential impact of Trump's presidency.
rsynnott 1y ago
The USD just fell sharply relative to the euro; if anything you'd expect a small _spike_ in travel, not the massive sharp decrease shown on the graph.
zeroc8 1y ago
Maybe the US just has just lost its fascination. I mean, we are bombarded with America's stupidity amost every day, why spend our vacation there? The whole travel experience just sucks anyway and at the border you are treated like the next Osama Bin Laden. Compare this to travelling inside the EU, where we enjoy complete freedom of travel, good food, nice cities, safety and general rationality. It's just way more pleasant over here.

alabastervlog 1y ago

This does not hold for any but a very-few expensive markets, and even there, not most of the time. Hell, I stayed in Manhattan a few months back with my kids, and for two beds in a room just a couple blocks from Times Square, in a hotel that I'd classify as one full step up from "just clean sheets and a door", we didn't pay $300/night, even with those being a Friday and Saturday night. And that was the most expensive hotel I've ever paid for in my life. You went somewhere very unusual and probably managed to hit on a peak weekend for whatever reason.

gjfxdfyu 1y ago
I’d like to know the name of this hotel because this sounds ridiculous. NYC hotels are notoriously expensive.
- alabastervlog 1y ago
  I picked that example exactly because it's infamously expensive, and I had recent direct experience. A quick search for an arbitrary Friday and Saturday night next month gives a ton of options right around $300/night in Midtown, plus plenty under $300. I wanna say we paid around $220 or $240 a night. I did shop a little (maybe twenty minutes?) to find one that low that seemed pretty good (and was in fact pretty good) My point is hitting $300/night in San Diego... and not even in a desirable location in San Diego, for a very-basic hotel... seems like an outlier, when you can get in (at least a little) under that in Midtown Manhattan of all places.

kowabungalow 1y ago

I've talked to plenty of people who regret having future tickets for travel to the US. I assume they were aware of the costs and considered them in their itinerary just as people have always had to for NYC, etc.

kylehotchkiss 1y ago

I live `on the outskirts of San Diego` (~30 min north, <10 miles to coast) and Marriott branded hotels (not motels) is currently listed as $125/night in spring break season. The hotel pricing argument to me indicates travel at peak season or insisting on being in the most touristy areas. I will accept arguments on rental cars and dining/tips though (protip to any intl travelers, you can skip tipping on everything except table-service dining, Americans hit skip on every other prompt, the whole tip prompt everywhere thing was driven by payment processors wanting to increase their own profits)

herbst 1y ago
This is the price i pay for a semi fancy hotel in Switzerland, 10 minutes outside of a city well connected and public transport included.