Asians are avoiding trips to the U.S. this year — for a variety of reasons

Tough talk on tariffs, reports of border detentions and unfavorable exchange rates are putting some travelers, especially Canadians, off trips to the United States this year.

But those in Asia say they’re avoiding trips to the U.S. for different reasons.

Nearly 80% of Southeast Asian travelers said the United States is losing appeal as a travel destination, according to a CNBC Travel survey.

One in four said their interest in visiting the country declined in the past six months, with respondents saying they’re more concerned about potential discrimination, actions by the Trump administration and gun violence than they are about costs.

News about tariffs and U.S. border policies negatively affected younger travelers more than older ones, the survey showed, but younger travelers were still more likely to be interested in traveling to the U.S. overall.

The survey of 6,000 international travelers from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia was conducted by the market research company Milieu Insight from May 22 to June 10.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they had visited the U.S. at least once in the past.

But despite their concerns, some respondents — particularly those from Vietnam (57%) and the Philippines (49%) — said they’re more interested in visiting the U.S. now than they were six months ago.

That may have to do with the size of their diasporas in the United States, said Zilmiyah Kamble, senior lecturer in hospitality and tourism management at James Cook University in Singapore. As of 2024, Filipinos were estimated to be the fourth-largest immigrant group in the United States, and Vietnamese citizens were at No. 8, according to the Pew Research Center.

“It could be because of family connections who live there,” said Kamble. But there’s also “the aspirational factor and the soft power of U.S. culture, through TV shows, that still is very attractive.”

Filipina Pinky David spoke to CNBC Travel from the U.S., which she said she visits frequently for work, family and holidays.

“I think the majority of Filipinos, in general, still consider coming to America,” she said.

However, the survey showed that one nation showed little interest in setting foot on American soil anytime soon. Some 55% of Singaporeans said they are less interested in visiting the U.S. than they were last November. Only 7% said they are now more interested in going, the data showed.

The survey also showed that Vietnamese respondents had the strongest reaction to tariffs announced by the Trump administration. In April 2025, Trump announced a 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam, before reaching a trade deal on July 2 that reduced the amount to 20% for Vietnamese goods and 40% for goods shipped to Vietnam from other countries for final shipment to the United States.

CNBC’s survey mirrors a YouGov report released in March which showed that since January 2025, global “buzz” and “impressions” of the U.S. as a travel destination have plummeted.

Impressions of the U.S. continued to drop into March, with net scores falling into negative territory in Europe, the Middle East/North Africa, and Canada and Mexico, according to YouGov data provided to CNBC.

However, the number of people who said they were considering the U.S. for their next international trip remained relatively stable, according to the YouGov report.

After the election of Donald Trump in November 2024, interest in visiting the U.S. rose in several parts of the world, from the United Arab Emirates and India to Hong Kong and Poland, according to the report.

However, interest in visiting dropped in other places, including Singapore, Canada, and Northern and Western Europe. Overall, global travel interest in trips to the U.S. fell 13%, according to the YouGov report.

Online sentiment about traveling to the U.S. also varies by country, according to the analytics company Sprout Social.

The company found that there were more than 87,000 mentions — and more than 1 million engagements, in the form of likes, comments, or shares — on X, YouTube, Tumblr and Reddit from April 30 to June 3 that discussed travel to the United States. Nearly 50,000 were from Canada, of which 45% were negative, the data showed.

However, 96% of the 18,000 mentions and interactions that originated from India were either positive or neutral, it showed.

Interestingly, the most negative sentiment about U.S. travel came from users in the U.S. itself, the data showed.