Following a drop last year, the downward trend in travel from Switzerland to the United States has accelerated during the first half of 2026. But what’s the reason behind the fall in traveller numbers?
Once among top travel destinations, the US has been losing its appeal for an increasing number of tourists from Switzerland.
According to Andrea Beffa, managing director of the Swiss Travel Association (SRV), between January and the end of June, 120,000 people from Switzerland flew to the US – a decline of 16.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Already in 2025, the number of travellers from Switzerland entering the United States fell by 10.6 percent in comparison to 2024.
“If this trend continues through the end of the year, we can expect only 300,000 arrivals from Switzerland in 2026,” Beffa said. “Excluding the pandemic years, this would mark the lowest figure in two decades.”
Why is this happening?
The reason is not that flying to the United States has become more expensive; on the contrary, SWISS airline has been cutting prices on tickets to US cities since 2025, to encourage travel across the Atlantic.
READ MORE: How flying to the US from Switzerland is getting cheaper
Instead, this drop in numbers is attributed to what travel experts call ‘The Trump slump’.
That’s because soon after Donald Trump took office in January 2025, he launched a trade war against Switzerland (by imposing hefty tariffs of 39 percent on Swiss products) and repeatedly insulted the then president Karin Keller-Sutter.
Subsequently, the number of tourists visiting America from Switzerland, or planning to fly there in the future, has fallen substantially – as the numbers cited above demonstrate.
“This situation is upsetting many people in Switzerland, and they choose to no longer fly to the United States,” another SRV official, Martin Wittwer, pointed out.
READ MORE: Why are fewer people travelling from Switzerland to the US?
But that’s not all
Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration impacts Swiss citizens as well, with media reporting about officials at US airports detaining Swiss nationals upon arrival in the country.
This is how Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) described one such incident: “A Swiss teacher attempting to enter the US [as a tourist] with an ESTA authorisation was detained at New York’s airport. She was accused of intending to work in the US, which she denied.”
The detention conditions were harsh, with poor hygiene and no privacy.
The newspaper went on to describe how the woman was handcuffed and placed on a chair with leg restraints. She remained in detention for hours before being ‘deported’ back to Switzerland.
“This case highlights the rigid enforcement of US immigration policies since the beginning of Trump’s second term.” the NZZ reported.
And, according to the NZZ, a similar fate befell another Swiss-citizen tourist as well.
It is no wonder, then, that foreign nationals prefer not to set foot on American soil.
