Donald Trump causes a slump in travel to the US by Swiss nationals
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US President Donald Trump is contributing to a decline in travel to the United States among Swiss travellers.
After falling last year, bookings for the US dropped even further in the first half of 2026.
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Between January and June, 120,000 Swiss travellers visited the US. That was 16.5% fewer than during the same period last year, according to Andrea Beffa, managing director of the Swiss Travel Association. Speaking to the AWP news agency on the sidelines of a press conference on Wednesday, she said the decline had accelerated.
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The sharp downturn is continuing. Last year, the number of Swiss visitors to the US fell by 10.6% to just over 361,000.
Lowest level in two decades
The outlook is equally bleak. “If this trend continues for the rest of the year, around 300,000 arrivals from Switzerland can be expected in 2026,” Beffa said. That would be roughly in line with the number recorded in 2007.
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Over the past two years, since Trump began his second term in office, the US has lost around a quarter of its Swiss visitors. By comparison, 404,434 arrivals from Switzerland were recorded in 2024.
Scepticism grows
At the same time, scepticism towards the US has also increased, according to surveys conducted by insurer Allianz Partners.
“65% of Swiss respondents do not currently plan to travel to the US,” Pia Bodner, Head of Marketing and Products at Allianz Travel, said at a media briefing. “Last year, the figure was 53%.”
In addition, 7% of Swiss respondents said they intended to cancel a planned trip to the US, up from 2% a year earlier.
The increase in scepticism was surprising because “people have more or less become accustomed to the political situation in the US as it is”, the Allianz executive said.
There was only a slight countertrend: 9% of under-30s said they planned to travel to the US more often. The Allianz manager suggested this could be linked to lower air fares.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
