The number of people travelling from Ireland to the United States fell by 27 per cent in March when compared to the same month last year, figures show.
The number of European visitors to the US has dropped notably, with Ireland representing one of the highest decreases from the European continent, the latest data from the US International Trade Administration (ITA) agency show.
Irish visitor numbers to the US fell by 26.9 per cent last month when compared to March 2024, the ITA figures show.
During the same time period, the number of visitors from Denmark visiting the US year-on-year dropped 34 per cent, most likely in response to Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he plans to take control of Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish dependent territory.
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German visitor numbers dropped by 28 per cent year-on-year in March this year; Spanish and Norwegian visitor numbers dropped by a quarter; and numbers from Switzerland were down 26 per cent.
Eoghan Corry, travel writer and owner of trade publication TravelExtra, who is attending a conference for travel operators in Rhode Island, said there was “an intense uncertainty” among participants about how the international tourism market to the US would hold up this year.
The 28 per cent drop in visitors from Germany was in large part reflective of German concerns over checks on social media accounts and about border controls, he said.
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“The German market is very important to the US, but there has been immense publicity in Germany about border control,” he said, adding that German social media was “full of cases” of Europeans being questioned and held at US borders.
Last week, the US government said it would begin screening the social media of immigrants, visa applicants and foreign students for what it has called anti-Semitic activity.
The US authorities’ decision to refuse entry to a French academic who was travelling to a conference in Houston, Texas, last month, apparently because his phone contained conversations with friends which were considered anti-Trump, has also scared European travellers, Mr Corry said.
One French tour operator visiting the Rhode Island travel conference reported three-quarters of his advance bookings to the US had been cancelled.
Overall the total number of overseas visitors travelling to the US has dropped by 12 per cent when compared to March last year, the ITA data shows, with an overall drop of 7 per cent from western European countries.
Visitor numbers fell by 14 per cent from the United Kingdom, which is rated the number-one tourist-generating country for the US by the ITA.
While the ITA’s data on decreased visitor numbers to the US do reflect the change in politics, Mr Corry said that Easter was on March 31st last year, which distorted travel comparisons with 2025.
He noted that Irish travel operators sending visitors to the US had not yet witnessed cancellations, adding that Irish holidaymakers tend not to change their plans because of political instability.
Mary Denton, chief executive of Sunway Travel, said forward sales for trips to the US remain “very strong, reflecting the continued appeal of America as a top destination for Irish holidaymakers”.
“While it’s true that current transatlantic trade tensions have introduced a degree of hesitation for some travellers, we remain optimistic,” Ms Denton said, adding the expansion of transatlantic routes had created more opportunities to visit the US in 2025.
Last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) updated its travel guidance for transgender Irish citizens planning a trip to the US, warning that US authorities had indicated ESTA and visa application forms must “reflect the traveller’s biological sex at birth”.
“Travellers whose sex on their passport differs from sex assigned at birth should contact the embassy of the United States of America in Dublin for further details on specific entry requirements,” the DFA advice said.
It follows similar moves by officials in Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands who have changed their advice for transgender travellers heading to the US.
On his first day in the White House, Trump signed an executive order stating the US government would only recognise two genders: male and female.
