The Skift conference took place for a few minutes, executive editor Andrea Doyle, just to describe the numerous impacts of the Trump administration so far: DEI chaos, tariff escalation, economic chaos, immigration concerns, and concerns about Inbound and export international travel.
“It’s been less than three months, and it’s hard to believe and the ripple effect has been felt in business activities,” she said. “There’s so much uncertainty in the market, all of which are having an impact.”
Nicola Kastner, a panelist for the CEO of the Exchange (ELX), and Kevin Hinton, managing director of the American Travel Association Group Travel, shared their views, but all acknowledged that the current state of uncertainty could be the biggest problem of all.
Skift Research lowered its global travel outlook in early April and now forecasts tourism growth in 2025 to be 2% to 5%, down from the forecast at the beginning of the year, up 6% to 9%.
Asked if you are worried about coming to the U.S. now, Canadian Castner talked about how the media reports of Canadian citizens were detained by Canadian citizens at the border for nearly two weeks, making her worried “I consulted an immigration lawyer, even if there was no reason to get me into us in my background.” “I heard from friends and colleagues heading to the U.S., and none of this changed. But people’s perceptions and fears are there.”
She said among Elx’s Canadian members, “not many of them want to come to the United States and their company said they wouldn’t allow them to come.
“Even myself, I don’t want to achieve this politics, but do I want to go on a personal trip now? Probably not.”
Feel less popular
“It’s a competitive market,” Hinton said. “Our dialogue with government is that people have choices and we are not conveying a sense of welcome to the world through these types of policies, or uncertainty about what policy is, and they don’t have. We need to do better to make the world welcome to the United States, and now, we can’t say that message clearly now.”
“If we want to grow the U.S. economy, conferences and business activities are a great way, but we are doing the opposite now,” he said.
The group talked about the major upcoming sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup in New York City in 2026 and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Hinton acknowledged that ongoing negative perceptions could also affect these and other large-scale events. “People can choose whether to come here or not. If they don’t feel they can enter safely and smoothly, that’s a deterrent. If they’re not safe, they won’t come.”
The panelists said that when decisions are needed to be made on future events, tariff announcements, and then pauses, are the same as the result of uncertainty.
According to Kastner’s research, food and beverage, AV, accommodation and other conference fees have risen by 38% since 2019. The potential cost increase in tariffs (another unknown) will be added above this.
“The conversation I have with members across the country is that, in general, the meetings have been held very well,” Hinton said. “What’s worrying is what will happen for the rest of the year. From most destinations, despite the cancellation of government meetings, they usually performed very strongly in the first quarter.
“We will see if this will continue, and we ask our members to share this with us so that we can understand what impact will be. This will make us better talk about the economic impact of meetings held in the United States.”
