Anita Shreider, who lives in Germany and is the chief marketing officer at rental platform Bikes Booking, is also still planning a US trip this year, combining business meetings with sightseeing in Chicago and a trip to see the giant sequoias along the West Coast. Still, she said she understands why some travelers are pulling back.
“I have acquaintances who decided to call off their summer trips to the US because they disagree with the country’s actions on the global stage,” she said. For those who cancelled, “it wasn’t really about specific policy changes, it was more a general unease. They just didn’t feel comfortable travelling to the US right now.”
Some US-based tour operators say that once international visitors arrive, they report being surprised at what they find. “People are arriving expecting friction, but instead of craziness, [they] find a system, while far from perfect, [that] is very navigable,” said Paul Whitten, Founder and Historian at Nashville Adventures. “Do your paperwork early, and build a buffer time to travel. The difference between a stressful trip and a great one usually comes down to how prepared you are, not the policies itself.”
Oshan agrees, and recommends international travelers carry documentation showing their purpose of travel, and that they know their rights before they board. “While CBP (US Customs and Border Patrol) has broad authority at the border, you retain constitutional protections once on US soil,” he said. “Those rights are worth asserting and, when violated, worth litigating.”
This was supposed to be a big year for US tourism, but it’s off to a rocky start
