American tourism is sending two signals at once. Visitor numbers from key markets are under real pressure — down by as much as half in some estimates — yet the travellers who do come are spending more than ever, an average of $4,277 per person. Those twin facts framed Brand USA Travel Week in Amsterdam, where more than 350 US brands met 300 buyers and media to plan how US travel sells itself next.
Fewer Visitors, Bigger Wallets
The slowdown is concentrated in Canada and parts of Europe, where high prices and the cost of long-haul travel have thinned demand. US destinations are responding by working harder to stay visible and reassure travellers, while leaning into the value story of the visitors they retain: fewer arrivals, but longer trips and deeper itineraries once they land.
Air connectivity is quietly helping. New direct routes between Europe and the US are opening secondary American cities to travellers who previously only transited through the big gateways — and dispersing spending into regions that rarely saw international visitors before. The conference findings are reported in the APL Media account of Brand USA Travel Week.
The Road Trip Is the Main Event
Of everything Europeans research about visiting America, road trips top the list. Multi-state journeys — the Pacific Coast, the national parks circuit, Route 66 nostalgia — remain the definitive American product, and travellers in the 30-to-45 bracket are identified as the most receptive audience for the pitch.
That fits the wider moment. Travellers across markets are choosing itineraries they control, at paces they set, over packaged sightseeing — and no format offers more control than a car, a map and two weeks. America’s geography is its competitive advantage, and its marketers know it.
How AI Is Rewriting US Travel Planning
The other shift is in the planning itself. More travellers are using AI tools for itinerary inspiration, even though the results can lack local insight, while Instagram and TikTok creators increasingly supply the spark that starts a booking. US destinations are adapting their marketing accordingly — feeding the algorithms with creator partnerships and bookable, filmable experiences.
Price transparency rules in the UK add a wrinkle, requiring clearer total pricing during booking. But the direction is clear: the trip is designed on a phone, in fragments, long before it is taken, and destinations that win the feed win the booking. Readers can follow more travel industry coverage in our blog section.
American travel’s challenge is arithmetic — revive volume without surrendering the record spending of those who still come. Its strategy, on show in Amsterdam, is to sell the country’s greatest hits differently: by road, by creator, and by algorithm. Whether that closes the arrival gap is 2027’s question to answer.
