Airbnb (ABNB) says that international travelers are increasingly skipping visits to the US, an indication that President Trump’s trade war may be impacting consumer preferences.
“We absolutely have seen a decline in popularity of foreign travelers coming to the US,” Airbnb CFO Ellie Mertz told analysts during the company’s first quarter earnings call on Thursday. She added, “It’s less popular to come to the US from a year ago also relative to the beginning of the year.”
Mertz noted the trend has had little impact on the company’s quarterly results since US visits by foreign travelers account for 2% to 3% of the platform’s overall business. Airbnb topped Wall Street estimates for earnings and revenue, though its second quarter outlook came in weaker than expected.
“Canada is the most obvious example where we see Canadians are traveling at a much lower rate to the US,” said Mertz, adding that they’re opting to travel more domestically, or to places like Mexico, Brazil, and France.
“I think what that tells you about the distribution is that, in this moment, it’s not necessarily that people don’t want to travel, they are just using different destinations,” added Mertz.
Analysts have been warning that anti-American sentiment could weigh on economic activity in recent weeks. In a note published in late March, Goldman Sachs estimated that foreign boycotts could shave 0.1% to 0.3% off domestic GDP in 2025, registering a hit of up to $80 billion.
Other players in the travel industry beyond Airbnb have said they’ve seen fluctuations in demand.
JetBlue (JBLU) recently paused plans to start a daily route between Halifax, Canada, and Boston, the first time the airline has canceled a city before it opened.
“I think with the trends we’re seeing in US-Canada demand — and more importantly, what we’re seeing in the bookings on the airplane … it was not going to be accretive for us anytime soon. So we figured we’d better rip off the Band-Aid now and move forward,” JetBlue CEO Marty St. George told analysts during the airline’s earnings call on Tuesday.
Companies in other industries have also noted an uptick in anti-American sentiment.
“What we have seen in our survey work is that there has been an increase in people in various markets saying that … they’re going to be cutting back their purchase of American brands,” McDonald’s (MCD) CEO Christopher Kempczinski said during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.
However, Kempczinski noted, “That’s had no impact on our business, and consumer sentiment toward the McDonald’s brands remained strong.”
Ines Ferre is a Senior Business Reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
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