PUERTO NATALES, Chile -- Sometimes you have to leave your country to see it clearly.
Elizabeth Becker is a former reporter for the New York Times and author of "Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism."
That happened to me here in Patagonia, at the end of the earth. I was part of an international crowd (700 people from 60 countries) who had traveled slowly through some of this country's wild landscape to attend the Adventure Travel World Summit, organized by the Adventure Travel and Tourism Association.
The mood was upbeat. We intended to chart a better future for tourism in panels and breakout sessions.
Then I spoke. My theme was the state of tourism today: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Overall, the global tourism industry is in fine shape, a juggernaut that contributes $10.9 trillion to the global GDP and is the world's biggest employer. If anything, a common complaint is travel's relentless popularity has led to overtourism.
But the thrust of my talk was the almost brutal reversal of fortunes for tourism in the U.S. In a matter of months, the policies and politics of the Trump administration have sabotaged the American tourism industry. It went from the world's best market in 2024, with earnings of $2.6 trillion, to a disappointment this year, already on track to lose from $12.5 billion to $29 billion.
Our president made his name in hospitality with golf courses, resorts and hotels yet has enacted policies that have enraged, frightened and intimidated would-be tourists. His indifference to the damage he has caused that same industry has shocked much of the tourism world.
"While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the 'closed' sign," said Julia Simpson, former head of the stalwart World Travel and Tourism Council.
Only some of the administration's policies that negatively impact visitation are directly connected to travel; e.g., visa prices have bloated to a minimum of $400 and can be as high as $15,000. But would-be travelers have seen their home countries insulted, have read about their compatriots mistreated at the border, watched videos of noncitizens with valid visas being abducted on our streets and seen their own economies upended by tariffs.
My question to the audience was whether and how they would stand up to all this in the name of their livelihood and their values. Expecting pushback, I filled my talk with facts, statistics and case studies.
The audience didn't need convincing. They understood the havoc better than I did. They are living it, rewriting business plans, laying off employees, losing entire sectors after the destruction of the United States Agency for International Aid that funded tourism efforts around the globe.
They also know the damage is deeper than I understood. The U.S. reputation is being shredded week by week, and reputation is everything in tourism. From Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, tourism experts have watched with dismay as the U.S. exhibits behavior one would expect to see only in authoritarian countries. They cannot honestly promise their clients that the U.S. is a safe and tolerant democracy.
Arthur Frommer, the father of modern tourism, warned of this: "I find in my own travels that the most depressing form of culture shock is experienced when you go into a country that is under the thumb of a dictator."
That quote resonates with me. As a former war correspondent, I've reported from countries spiraling into chaos, seen democracies disabled by leaders using propaganda and force to gain full powers and seen citizens deprived of their basic rights.
I asked the audience if they knew anyone who no longer will travel to the U.S. because they fear being arbitrarily rejected at the airport even when they held valid passports and visas.
Hands shot up.
Denise Cullen, an Australian travel writer, told me, "I've been all over the world, and I've never been as nervous as I was going through border control at a U.S. airport."
Her editor at The Australian wrote an editorial warning against travel to the U.S.: "America is suddenly on the nose as a holiday destination." That's Australian for "America stinks."
The upheaval was ignited in early February when Canada, America's oldest friend (and No. 1 inbound travel market), was falsely accused of invading the U.S. with illegal drugs and taking economic advantage of the U.S. for decades. For those reasons, Trump said Canada should lose its sovereignty and become the 51st state of the U.S.
The threat struck like a thunderbolt. Canadians fought back through tourism and launched a boycott of the U.S. that has reduced travel across the border by a third and threatens to have a permanent impact. The fallout is felt from the sun states of Arizona and Florida to border towns from Maine to Washington state.
The president doesn't seem to care. He recently dismissed the boycott, saying, "The people of Canada, they will love us again. Most of them still do."
This doesn't add up if the major goal of the administration is to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. Tourism is the largest U.S. service export.
The one consistent bright spot in America's image abroad is our rapper Bad Bunny. The Puerto Rican superstar had just been named entertainer for the Super Bowl halftime show. After seeing those videos of immigrants abducted from the streets of Chicago and Los Angeles simply because they are brown-skinned and speak Spanish, the National Football League's decision was a tonic. Yes, Trump called Bad Bunny "absolutely ridiculous," and the president's followers are planning an alternative event but that doesn't matter here in Chile.
This is Bad Bunny country. His songs are everywhere -- on playlists, in cafes and airports. Everyone plans to watch the Super Bowl (or at least the halftime show). It's a welcome development in that most precious commodity of tourism: America's reputation.
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