Central European tourists cancel trips to the US – Finnair still expects a record summer

Two passengers look at the flight board at the airport, preparing for their journey. — From Central Europe, many tourists are travelling to Mexico or Canada this year instead of the United States.

Donald Trump’s policies have led many European tourists to look for an alternative to a US holiday.

International travel to the United States has declined in the first half of the year.

Tourism Economics, a tourism research company, predicts a 5% decline this year, compared to an earlier forecast of 8% growth.

The US Customs and Border Protection recorded 9.7 million arrivals at airports in February, a drop of more than 2.4% from a year earlier.

Ambassador Bridge, in front of which is fluttering in Canada and the US flag. — The Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit in the US and Ontario in Canada. The number of car tourists has fallen by as much as 24% since the US-imposed tariff on Canadian goods came into force.

In particular, Canadian tourism has decreased due to the customs imposed by President Trump. The number of car passengers on the US -Canadian border decreased in February by a quarter compared to the previous year.

Canadians also book less air travel to the United States.

For example, Air Canada has announced that it will reduce direct flights from Canada to popular resorts in Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona from March.

European tourists are also considering travelling

Many Central European tourists are also looking for alternatives to the United States and are now heading to Mexico or Canada.

Research company Tourism Economics estimates that the reduction in Central European tourists’ interest is the reason for the fear of the trade in the way the United States has sought to resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine.

This is a serious setback for US tourism companies, with as many as one third of the United States traveling to Western Europe.

Tourism Economics estimates that the loss of sales for tourism companies is approximately $ 18 billion. In addition, when the country’s internal tourism is expected to decline, demand for tourism services, or overall tourism demand, decreases by up to $ 64 billion.

The decline in the tourism industry is also prepared for in Central European airlines.

– We have found more and more ticket sales in the United States. Thus, we sell more and more tickets in a flourishing US economy compared to a steady German or European economy, said Sohr.

A highlight at Los Angeles Airport, which guides Finnair's check -in. — Finnair operates five return flights a week between Los Angeles and Helsinki Airport during the summer season. The flights are expected to bring a large number of US tourists to Finland.

Finnair predicts a record-breaking summer

Finnair has a record number of flights between Finland and the United States this summer. During the summer season, Finnair flies weekly 35 round shifts to different fields in the United States.

The company advertises summer trips on, for example, social media. There are angry messages from Finns, many of whom say they are not going to Trump to the United States.

Nevertheless, Finnair anticipates a record summer for North Atlantic routes.

According to Suomela, business travel between Finland and the United States is also growing.

In June alone, more than 85,000 benches are on sale on US flights, which is over 28,000 seats more than last year.

Finnair’s hope for a good summer is a little surprisingly increased by travel reservations from India. Helsinki-Vantaa is returning to the Indians as a transit field when flying to the United States.

– The Indians have found Helsinki as an exchange point because there is a fairly fluent interchange on Dallas on Delhi flights, for example.

A strong dollar brings tourists from the United States

The US tourism balance, that is, the relationship between outgoing and future tourists, will be a lot of loss this year.

American tourists are traveling abroad this year more than years, as last summer, compared to last summer, the dollar is still stronger in relation to the euro and the yen.

It makes travel to Europe, Asia and South America attractive.

This, too, brings more passengers to flights between the United States and Finland.