How U.S. travelers look at the world differently: Travel Weekly

Arnie Weissmann

The company Global Rescue, which provides a range of risk- and crisis-management services, just released the results of its Summer 2025 Traveler Safety and Sentiment Survey, based on the responses of 2,900 current and former customers.

The questionnaire asked respondents to share how global events have impacted their travel plans.

American travelers are notoriously skittish, and that nervousness showed in differences between results from U.S.-based and other travelers. But it also revealed wariness on the part of non-U.S. travelers about visiting America.

The contrast in attitude between U.S. and non-U.S. travelers was, in some instances, striking. U.S. travelers are significantly more likely to avoid Mexico than non-U.S. travelers (37% vs. 22%), with a similar gap in sentiment regarding the Dominican Republic (32% vs. 19%). Double-digit disparities also existed for potentially visiting Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kenya and Guatemala.

Jamaica, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Colombia and Jordan had smaller gaps but still in the high single digits.

In some instances, it seemed clear that bilateral politics play a role. In the greatest variance, only 25% of non-U.S. travelers indicated they would avoid China, but 51% of U.S. travelers said they would. The frosty relations between our two countries is one likely explanation.

But why the gaps for Mexico and the Dominican Republic?

It may have to do with government travel advisories. The Global Rescue survey found that more than 62% of Americans say that government travel advisories influence their destination choice “a great deal,” “a lot” or “a moderate amount.”

The U.S. State Department advisory on Mexico breaks down the country by state and, in some cases, delineates areas of safety (or caution) down to the street and highway level. While there are just a handful of states where travel is strongly discouraged, only two fall under the mildest category, recommending that travelers need only take standard travel precautions.

As for the Dominican Republic, the first line of the State Department advisory might have something to do with reluctance to visit: “Violent crime is a concern in the Dominican Republic despite more police presence in areas often visited by tourists.”

In some areas surveyed, like the impact of the Israel-Iran conflict and whether recent earthquake or volcanic activity impacted respondents’ choice of destination, travelers both in the U.S. and abroad tracked fairly closely.

There’s likewise only a small gap in the results when U.S. and non-U.S. travelers were asked about the impact of U.S. governmental activity on travel: 28% of U.S. travelers and 32% of non-U.S. travelers said that U.S. international policy initiatives or announcements have impacted their willingness to travel. Twenty-two percent of non-U.S. travelers indicated that they have actually changed their travel plans as a result.

When asked how the U.S. political climate is impacting plans to visit America, 20% of nonresidents said they’re reconsidering travel here, 10% have already postponed trips and more than 15% have canceled trips.

Asked how U.S. policy has impacted the way that Americans are perceived abroad, 61% of U.S.-based travelers and 65% of travelers from outside the U.S. said “Americans will be perceived more negatively” (5.6% and 3.4%, respectively, believe Americans will be perceived more positively).

Guidance in government advisories regarding travel to the U.S. did change earlier this year for Germany, the U.K., Finland and Denmark as a result of changes in our passport gender designations. That change is unlikely to be the sole reason that people are forgoing a visit to America, but neither is it disconnected. It, as well as stories of visitors being detained at the border, refused entry or having their social media channels examined, all combine to send the message that the U.S. is not as welcoming as other countries.

I’ve written before about the challenges that countries have in recovering from events that motivate travelers to look elsewhere for visitation. Typically, those events are transitory: an earthquake, a hurricane, a terrorist attack, riots. For a period, these destinations have fallen off the tourist map but tend to get back on it once stability returns.

Has the U.S. fallen off the tourist map? The Global Rescue survey aligns with a corresponding drop in visitation to the U.S. and may in some ways suggest the worst is yet to come, with 45% of potential visitors reconsidering, postponing or canceling trips here. I have to believe that this, too, is transitory — the U.S. is just too attractive a destination to stay off the map forever — but I also worry the road back to our previous stature may be a long one.

The key element that’s impacting us is that we’re not perceived as a welcoming destination in a world filled with countries that are. Once visitors get past immigration formalities, they will find us very welcoming indeed. The question is, will we get the chance to prove it?