Swiss travel less to the US, Trump effect weighs in
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss are travelling less to the United States in the wake of the impact caused by President Donald Trump, says the Swiss Travel Federation (FSV).
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In the first six months of 2025, travel in the US fell by 6% compared to the same period the previous year, according to a survey of 172 members conducted by the organisation and published today.
The current political situation is negatively affecting traveller behaviour, says the FSV. For 2025 as a whole, a larger drop of around 10% is expected. The number of people flying across the Atlantic will likely fall to 340,000, after 380,000 in 2024.
This trend is not very surprising, explained FSV director Andrea Beffa in an interview with the Awp agency on the sidelines of a press conference in Zurich. “There had already been a decline during Donald Trump’s first term in office.”
In fact, the drop is still relatively moderate. Many people had already booked before the Republican politician’s election last November and most of them made the trip, recalls Beffa. In short, there were only very few cancellations. But since the election of the new occupant of the White House, demand has been declining.
The US is the only country in this situation. In fact, political events usually only cause temporary decreases in activity. This was the case in Cyprus or Egypt when the situation in the Middle East worsened. Demand picks up relatively quickly when the topic is no longer in the media. “But the US is constantly in the media since Trump’s election,” said Beffa.
Other destinations have benefited from the downturn, such as Canada, Australia and various countries in Asia and Africa. On the positive side, people still continue to travel, says Beffa: “They simply choose other destinations. I predict that in 2026 there will be an even bigger drop compared to this year.”
In general, however, the desire to travel remains strong: FSV predicts a 5% increase in turnover, mainly due to price growth. According to Beffa, people are prepared to spend more. In spite of the economic situation, the Swiss do not want to give up their holidays.
Beach holidays and individual, long-distance trips requiring in-depth advice are particularly popular and stimulate growth, says the association.
In summer, the most popular destinations were Spain, Greece and Turkey. Scandinavia continues to gain in popularity, but the trend towards ‘coolcations’ – holidays in places with lower temperatures – is not at the expense of classic Mediterranean destinations. Northern European nations only account for around 8-9% of total demand. A strong expansion of Asia is also observed, with record demand for Japan and Sri Lanka.
However, the rise in the travel sector should have come to an end. “We believe that the situation will stabilise at the current level: we do not expect growth in 2026 to be as strong as in previous years,” explains Beffa.
Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga
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