The tourists aren’t coming like they used to.
And while, for the current administration, that may not be an issue, the people that are feeling it the most are families, workers, and our community at large. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, international visitor spending in the U.S. is going to drop from about $181 billion in 2024 down to $169 billion in 2025. That’s $12.5 billion in losses for our restaurants, hotels, shops, and all those neighborhood businesses that count on visitors walking through their doors.
And here’s what I mean when I say “our communities.” If you’re visiting New York as a tourist (especially a tourist with a bit of melanin), you’re probably thinking of making a trip uptown to visit cultural hotspots such as Harlem’s Red Rooster. Or in Miami’s Little Haiti, the artisan shops and Little Haiti Cultural Complex that celebrate our Caribbean heritage. And it doesn’t stop at lost money. This may ultimately result in fewer shifts for workers, owners struggling to keep the lights on, and sometimes doors closing for good (which if you’re like me and live in the Washington D.C. area, seems like it’s happening every other day).
And why is this happening? A big part of it is politics. Stricter immigration policies and anti-foreigner talk are just one of the reasons that have made travelers think twice about booking U.S. trips. If this keeps going, more than 230,000 jobs in food, lodging, and related industries could disappear. Those numbers might seem abstract until you think about the actual people, the cooks, guides, artists, and business owners who don’t have much of a safety net to begin with.
For Black entrepreneurs especially, this downturn is more than just business as usual. Think about our beloved Dooky Chase‘s in New Orleans, the place Leah Chase made famous. That restaurant has been a cultural institution in NOLA for decades even loved by our forever President Barack Obama. It’s been where people gathered, where Creole culture lived and breathed, where Black history got passed down over plates of gumbo. When international tourists stop showing up, places like this lose revenue and a chance to share our stories with the world.
In Chicago, Bronzeville Winery is an amazing hub for food, art, and community in a neighborhood with so much Black history. Fewer visitors means fewer chances to show people what this neighborhood is really about and bring fresh energy to the local economy. Down in Atlanta, Essence Tree Holistic Life Spa, a Black-owned wellness destinaton, depends on both locals and visitors. When travel drops off, wellness centers doing important work around self-care and community healing feel the squeeze too.
And in D.C., places like Ben’s Chili Bowl carry cultural weight that goes way beyond what’s on the menu. It’s where politicians and civil rights leaders have broken break tracing back decades. So when places like that suffer, so does the culture.
So what now? If international travelers aren’t showing up in the same numbers, what can our communities actually do about it?
Well first and foremost, we need to think differently about what tourism even means. Detroit is already trying this with bike tours that dig into Black music and industrial history. Instead of waiting for people from overseas, they’re bringing in folks from nearby states who want something deeper than the usual tourist experience. Houston has gotten creative with neighborhood markets, putting African and Caribbean food vendors front and center and turning weekends into these mini-festivals that work for locals and regional travelers alike. Back in New Orleans, cultural tours led by Black guides are showing domestic visitors that the real soul of the city lives in its neighborhoods, not just on Bourbon Street.
This makes tourism less dependent on things we can’t control like visa costs, global politics, or international flight schedules. It puts the power back in our communities’ hands, letting us create travel experiences that actually honor our history while building our future.
But businesses can’t handle this alone. Local governments need to step up with real support, grants, tax breaks, promotion campaigns that spotlight small, independent businesses instead of just throwing money at big convention centers and hotel chains. Better infrastructure would help too. Safe public transit, accessible public spaces, marketing campaigns that actually reach people, all of that makes it easier for people to explore what’s in their own backyard.
And let’s talk about storytelling, because this is where we’ve always been strong. Black entrepreneurs have been creating world-class experiences for years, often without getting the recognition or support they deserve. When cities actually highlight places like Dooky Chase’s, Bronzeville Winery, Essence Tree Spa, and the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, they’re saying our culture matters in the bigger American story.
Look, the drop in international tourism is real, and those economic losses hurt. But the bigger problem would be letting those losses convince us that our communities don’t have any power. We’ve always been the ones telling our own stories best. We’ve always figured out how to make it work when systems turned against us. And if we really commit to showing up for each other, this local travel economy might actually survive, while everything else is (very much) burning down around us.