US flight searches from Gulf fall by...

America losing out on long-haul flight planning

Travel intent to the US has dropped by 23% from residents in the GCC, recent data from Mabrian, a global provider of travel and tourism data intelligence, reveals.

Data from Mabrian's Share of Searches Index shows long-haul travellers are thinking twice about planning trips to the States due to growing uncertainty as President Trump continues to disrupt the status quo with tariffs and travel bans, with banned countries mainly in the Middle East and Africa.

Data suggests long-haul travellers are taking a more cautious approach to planning, with flight searches from the GCC to the US up to September 2025 accounting for 1.7% of the global total, down 0.5% from 2024, which marks a decrease of 23%.

Travel demand from the UAE dropped 0.75% to reach 2.1% of market share at the end of April, a drop of 26%, and searches from Saudi to the US ended April at 0.9%, down by a quarter compared to the same period last year.

In April, the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2025 Economic Impact Research (EIR) predicted the impact of Trump’s tariffs would hit both inbound and outbound travel, particularly for the US.

Rather than a lack of interest in visiting the US, Mabrian's travel intent data highlights long-haul travellers’ "growing uncertainty" about planning trips well in advance, with booking lead times readjusting toward shorter planning horizons, according to Carlos Cendra, Partner and Director of Marketing and Communications at Mabrian.

“It is precisely during the planning phase that the US is in risk of losing competitive ground, as travellers might be considering alternative destinations.”

The drop in demand for travel to the US is also reflected in key European markets with tariffs having a clear impact on travel intentions.

From January to April 2025, Mabrian says travel intent from EU countries dropped 0.3% to 5.5% of global searches compared to 2024, with Germany, Italy and France seing decreases of around 1% while the UK showed a recovery following an agreement with the US on tariffs on 8 May.

However, there is positive news for the US, with Australian demand in the last week of April actually rising 0.3% to reach 3.5%, ahead of 2024 figures.

For more information, visit www.mabrian.com

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