Tighter border rules are putting European tourists off holidaying in the US, according to Europe’s biggest package trip operator.
Tui’s chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said there had been a “significant decline” in travel to the US, due to a multitude of factors including “the atmosphere, what you hear from border control”.
He said European tourists were opting instead to visit Canada and other long-haul destinations such as Africa and Asia.
The comments from Tui’s chief executive follow a string of reports of Europeans and other foreigners with valid visas for the US facing interrogation, detainment and deportation, including a British tourist, three Germans, a Canadian and an Australian who were each held and then deported.
Sarah Shaw, from New Zealand, and her six-year-old son, who live in the US, are being held at a US immigration centre after they were detained crossing the Canada-US border.
Donald Trump’s administration plans to impose bonds – some as high as $15,000 for some tourism and business visas. It also plans a $250 “visa integrity fee” for visitors. Asked about the changes, Ebel said: “I expect that the impact will be seen, and this policy will change. Will it change in three months, will it change in three years? I have no idea.”
Tui’s report of a decline in US travel by its customers comes as figures have highlighted a sharp fall in overall tourism to the country in recent months; the industry is expected to lose out on billions of dollars this year as a result of government actions. Travel from Canada and Mexico in 2025 has fallen by 20% compared with last year, according to the US Travel Association.
Ebel played down the significance of the fall to Tui, saying its US business was “not of essence for us. It’s a nice long-haul business, good margins, but it’s not in the order of magnitude, not a big thing.”
Ebel said customers would choose to visit places where there was “seamless travel” and called for travel between the UK and the EU to be made easier.
British visitors are allowed to use e-gates but they still have to get their passports stamped until at least October because of Brexit restrictions.
Ebel said: “I’m so happy that there’s seamless travel for me as a German, to Spain, to Greece. I would wish that it would be the same seamlessness to the UK.
“It’s not seamless, and that’s not good for the UK, and it’s not good for Europe either.”
Tui reported a 2% fall in summer bookings as a result of conflict in the Middle East, but said ticket prices were 3% higher, helping to balance out higher costs.
A summer of heatwaves across Europe, and current extremely high temperatures across south-west France, Croatia, Italy and Spain, are also causing more holidaymakers to travel either ahead of, or after, the peak summer period, in what travel companies call the “shoulder season”, which usually refers to March-May and September-October.
Ebel said this shift gave the company a “good outlook”, as the trend for customers travelling at other times of year and not just during the school summer holidays gave it more resilience.
Tui increased its full-year profit guidance on Tuesday, following strong demand for stays in its hotels and for its cruises. Its shares rose more than 6%.
Tui reported underlying pre-tax profit of €321m (£277m) between April and June, ahead of analysts’ forecasts, and 38% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier as it benefited from the late timing of Easter.
