Overseas travel to the United States kept sliding in September, with arrivals down 4.3% from a year earlier to 2.7 million, according to preliminary data from the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), Skift reported. For the first nine months of 2026, arrivals are down 5.7%.

Source: Skift — Western Europe Drives Another Drop in Overseas Travel to the U.S.

In total, overseas arrivals reached 24.11 million between January and September 2026 — yaani roughly 2.41 crore visitors — a 5.7% decline, Wisevoter reported from the same NTTO figures. The drop follows a 5.5% decrease in total international arrivals recorded in 2025, and August was weaker still, with overseas arrivals down nearly 12% year over year despite the visitors who came for the football World Cup earlier in the summer.

Source: Wisevoter — Overseas Arrivals to United States Fall in 2026

Western Europe drives the decline

Skift reported that gains from China and South America have not been enough to make up for declines in travel from Western Europe. Among the steepest country drops in the NTTO figures were South Korea (down 19.7%), France (down 15.3%) and Germany (down 14.9%), Wisevoter reported.

The weaker arrivals are already showing up in money terms: international visitor spending in the United States fell by $8.4 billion in 2025 compared with 2024, according to the same reporting. Tourism Economics, in a September research brief, likewise found overseas arrivals down 5.8% year to date through August and warned that destinations most exposed to Canadian and Western European visitors are being hit hardest, while Mexico remains a bright spot with arrivals up 14.6% year to date through June.