Will the Federal Budget Enigma Stall Inbound Tourism Growth?

by Steve Richer, DC Correspondent

The “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” narrowly passed by only Republicans in Congress and signed into law on July 4 by the President, contains new fiscal policies that could have additional impacts on the inbound travel sector of the national tourism economy. 

At this point before the new budget is implemented, there are more questions than answers. IITA is working to get those answers so our inbound operators and their domestic business partners can explain these changes to our international clients and their customers. 

To make it easier to follow these changes, they are offered here as individual elements with as much information as is available and the unanswered related questions. 

Integrity fee. A new $250 per person fee will be collected from visa required visitors who come for leisure, business, conferences, or study. The fee is to be returned when its payees depart within five days prior to the expiration of the visa. The Department of Homeland Security is supposed to handle this but is saying it needs to coordinate with the State Department, which issues visas. No clear rules have been announced as to how and when the fee is to be collected or—similarly—how it is returned and the requirements to qualify for that. Early announcements are that visa waiver and open travel country visitors are exempt from this fee. 

Visa fee and integrity fee double whammy.  With the visa fee at $185 per person and a new $250 integrity fee, that’s $435 out of pocket before air, land arrangements, shopping, and other related costs. For folks coming to the 2026 international sporting events add ticket costs and lodging premiums. Will these financial burdens deter travelers?  IITA operators may be the first to know. 

International visitor fee increase to national parks. The authorization to increase entrance and recreation fees for international visitors per person per park was part of the bill, followed by an Executive Order from President Trump. The stated intent of the higher fees is an effort to make up for national parks system funding reductions. The Executive Order also mandates that US residents receive priority access in any permitting or reservation systems for national parks. This comes amid concerns about staffing cuts and lack of seasonal employees during peak visitation season.

Big questions remain, such as whether these increased fees – which various studies have estimated between $16 and $100 - will actually reduce international attendance, whether the remaining attendance will be skewed to the most popular parks, and whether the reduced staffing can handle how to identify international visitors meaning all visitors will have to be identified. IITA is still advocating some kind of international visitor pass option to maintain reasonable visitor volume. 

Visa waiver fee increase, but less for Brand USA. The new ESTA visa waiver fee is going from $21 to $40, yet the share for Brand USA has been reduced to $20 million per year from $100 million. Congress chose to put the increased revenue and $80 million previously committed to marketing America into the general fund to offset the huge budget deficit resulting from other choices in the legislation. 

IITA would like to see some of that money go to national park funding. 

There you have it! An enigma as to whether and/or how much tourism will drop due to these policies. 

The U.S. is already the only major country experiencing an inbound tourism drop according to the World Travel and Tourism Council with one projection of a revenue loss of $12.5 billion. Other new projections are even higher. 

IITA will be looking for ways to improve these circumstances. All the information our members can share on what changes are occurring due to any of these policies and what questions and comments you are receiving will be very useful. 

This just may be the biggest challenge we have faced as an industry segment and that is without discussing related security, trade, and diplomatic issues. 

As always, we thank you for your engagement at this amazing time of challenges.