Johanna Jainchill
Gloria Guevara's return to the top spot at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) comes at what she describes as a crossroads for the tourism sector in the U.S.
Guevara, the former secretary of tourism in Mexico, was WTTC CEO from 2017 to 2021 before taking a role in Saudi Arabia's Tourism Ministry. She rejoined the WTTC in January.
I recently met with Guevara in a hotel lobby in New York City. Armed with charts and data, she demonstrated that while global travel is booming, the U.S. has seen its market share shrink.
According to WTTC data, global tourism and travel was the world's fastest-growing economic sector in 2025; its 4.1% growth outperformed the overall global economy's 2.8% growth.
That growth was as high as 8.1% in Asia, driven by an 8.3% surge in visitor spending.
Where did it not surge?
North America was the only region where international visitor spend fell -- by 3.3%, driven by 4.6% and 3.5% declines in the U.S. and Canada, respectively. Mexico's 3.5% growth kept the region from an even deeper tumble.
What matters when talking about these numbers is market share. There are times when travel is down globally, such as during Covid and the Great Recession, or when regions are rocked by war or natural disasters. What's worrisome is that the U.S. is losing international visitor spending while it's growing almost everywhere else.
The downturn started last year, and this column, and Travel Weekly, have explored why -- from Canadians boycotting the U.S. to reports last year about visitors being detained by border agents. A year later, things are not improving.
And if the current trajectory holds, Guevara warned, the U.S. could slip from being the world's most powerful travel and tourism market to No. 2 within four years, overtaken by China, where visitor spend grew 10.5% last year while international visitation jumped 15.5%.
This isn't just a matter of titles, it's one of economics, with billions in lost revenue and thousands of jobs.
"This is money the U.S. is leaving on the table," Guevara said.
What's powering China's resurgence is a contrast to what the U.S. is doing. The country relaxed visa policies and made major investments in infrastructure and travel facilitation, Guevara said.
"China had an issue in the past about perception," she added, something they have worked to turn around, doing a "great job in promoting, making sure that people feel welcome." Beyond that, she found on vacation there last year that from biometrics used to make arrival easier at the airport to investments in infrastructure like its trains, "they check all the boxes with the experience."
And it's not just China. The 10 countries that saw the most growth last year, Guevara said, are ones that have invested in simplified visa processes, made travel more seamless and promoted aggressively.
These actions send a welcoming message to would-be visitors, while the U.S. has in many ways done the opposite.
Proposals like one from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that would require social media disclosures by visa applicants -- even if never implemented -- ripple globally. WTTC research shows that more than a third of travelers in key markets said they would reconsider visiting if such rules were enacted.
What's not being messaged, Guevara said, is just how seamless it can be to enter the U.S. She praised the CBP's Global Entry program for enabling her quick arrival into New York City, but she said the perception of going to the U.S. is one of being difficult.
And perception, she stressed, is the problem, one that's harder to fix when Brand USA, the country's tourism marketing arm, has seen its funding slashed, leaving it outgunned by destinations pouring money into promotion.
"We need to tell them that they're welcome," she said of potential visitors. "The U.S. is a great product. It's amazing in terms of experience; the product so diverse. You don't have the challenges that you have in other markets, like the overcrowding. What the U.S. needs is not that much. It's messaging, it's welcoming, it's making the experience seamless."
The crossroads, Guevara said, is the FIFA World Cup this summer, when the U.S. has the rare opportunity to welcome millions of first-time visitors all arriving at once.
"We have to make sure that all the travelers that come to this country for the World Cup have an amazing experience, in and out and while they are here, so that they can become ambassadors of the U.S.," Guevara said. "If we blow it with one of them, they will be sharing their experience back home and this is going to get worse."