LAS VEGAS (AP) — For a few hopeful weeks this summer, a bright billboard on the major highway linking Toronto to New York greeted Canadian drivers with a simple message: “Buffalo Loves Canada.”

The marketing campaign, which included a $500 gift card giveaway, was meant to show Buffalo’s northern neighbors they were welcome, wanted and missed.

At first, it seemed like it might work, said Patrick Kaler, CEO of the local tourism organization Visit Buffalo Niagara. More than 1,000 people entered the giveaway. But by the end of July, it was clear the city’s reliable summer wave of Canadian visitors would not arrive this year.

Buffalo’s struggle reflects a broader downturn in international tourism to the U.S. that travel analysts warn could persist well into the future. From northern border towns to major hot spots like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, popular travel destinations reported hosting fewer foreign visitors this summer.

Experts and some local officials attribute the trend that first emerged in February to President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. They say his tariffs, immigration crackdown and repeated jabs about the U.S. acquiring Canada and Greenland alienated travelers from other parts of the world.

“To see the traffic drop off so significantly, especially because of rhetoric that can be changed, is so disheartening,” Kaler said.

Forecasts show US losing foreign travelers

The World Travel & Tourism Council projected ahead of Memorial Day that the U.S. would be the only country among the 184 it studied where foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear indicator that the global appeal of the U.S. is slipping,” the global industry association said.

“The world’s biggest travel and tourism economy is heading in the wrong direction,” Julia Simpson, the council’s president and CEO, said. “While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”

Travel research firm Tourism Economics, meanwhile, predicted this month that the U.S. would see 8.2% fewer international arrivals in 2025, an improvement from its earlier forecast of a 9.4% decline but well below the numbers of foreign visitors to the country before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The sentiment drag has proven to be severe,” the firm said, noting that airline bookings indicate “the sharp inbound travel slowdown” of May, June and July would likely persist in the months ahead.

Deborah Friedland, managing director at the financial services firm Eisner Advisory Group, said he U.S. travel industry faced multiple headwinds — rising travel costs, political uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Since returning to office, Trump has doubled down on some of the hard-line policies that defined his first term, reviving a travel ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries, tightening rules around visa approvals and ramping up mass immigration raids. At the same time, the push for tariffs on foreign goods that quickly became a defining feature of his second term gave some citizens elsewhere a sense they were unwanted.

“Perception is reality,” Friedland said.

International arrivals down from Western Europe, Asia and Africa

Organizers of an international swing dancing said an impression of America’s hostility to foreigners led them to postpone the event, which had been scheduled to take place this month in the Harlem area of New York City.

About three months into Trump’s second term, international competitors began pulling out of the world finals of the International Lindy Hop Championships, saying they felt unwelcome, event co-producer Tena Morales said. About half of attendees each year come from outside the U.S., primarily from Canada and France, she said.

Contest organizers are considering whether to host the annual competition in another country until Trump’s presidency ends, Morales said.

“The climate is still the same and what we’re hearing is still the same, that (dancers) don’t want to come here,” she said.

The nation’s capital, where the Trump administration in recent weeks deployed National Guard members and took over management of Union Station, also has noticed an impact.

Local tourism officials have projected a 5.1% dip in international visitors for the year. Marketing organization Destination DC said last week it planned to “counter negative rhetoric” about the city with a campaign that would feature residents and highlight the “more personal side” of Washington.

U.S. government data confirms an overall drop-off in international arrivals during the first seven months of the year. The number of overseas visitors, a category that doesn’t include travelers from Mexico or Canada, declined by more than 3 million, or 1.6%, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary figures from the National Travel and Tourism Office.

As a tourist generator, Western Europe was down 2.3%, with visitors from Denmark dropping by 19%, from Germany by 10%, and from France by 6.6%. A similar pattern surfaced in Asia, where the U.S. data showed double-digit decreases in arrivals from Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines. Fewer residents of countries throughout Africa also had traveled to the U.S. as of July.

However, visitors from some countries, among them Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Japan, have arrived in greater numbers.

Filling a void left by Canadian tourists

Neither did all U.S. destinations report sluggish summers for tourism.

On eastern Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, which straddles Lake Michigan and Green Bay, a steady stream of loyal Midwest visitors helped deliver a strong summer for local businesses, according to Jon Jarosh, a spokesperson for Destination Door County.

Many business owners reported a noticeable uptick in foot traffic after a quieter start to the season, Jarosh said, and sidewalks were bustling and restaurants were packed by midsummer.

Executives from the major U.S. airlines said last month that American passengers booking premium airfares helped fill their international flights and that demand for domestic flights was picking up after a weaker than expected showing in the first half of 2025.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was gearing up for what is expected to be the busiest Labor Day weekend in 15 years. Bookings for U.S. airlines were up about 2% compared to 2024 for the long holiday weekend that started Thursday, aviation analytics firm Cirium said.

As the summer winds down, though, the absence of foreign visitors in Buffalo was still visible, according to Kaler, the head of Visit Buffalo Niagara.

Canada sent over 20.2 million visitors to the U.S. last year, more than any other country, U.S. government data showed. But this year, residents of Canada have been among the most reluctant to visit.

In a major U-turn, more U.S. residents drove into Canada in June and July than Canadians making the reverse trip, according to Canada’s national statistical agency. Statistics Canada said it was the first time that happened in nearly two decades with the exception of two months during the pandemic.

In July alone, the number of Canadian residents returning from the U.S. by car was down 37% from the year before, and return trips by plane fell 26%, the agency said.

As a result, Visit Buffalo Niagara shifted its marketing efforts this summer to cities like Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago. Amateur children’s sporting events also helped fill the void left by Canadian tourists.

“We will always welcome Canadians back when the time is right,” Kaler said. “I don’t want Canadians to feel like we see them as just dollar signs or a transaction at our cash registers. They mean more to us that that.”

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency was left reeling Thursday as the White House worked to expel the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and replace her with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s current deputy.

The turmoil triggered rare bipartisan alarm as Kennedy tries to advance anti-vaccine policies that are contradicted by decades of scientific research.

Two administration officials said Jim O’Neill, the second-in-command at the Department of Health and Human Services, would supplant Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist. O’Neill, a former investment executive who also served at the federal health department under President George W. Bush, does not have a medical background. The officials, who confirmed the change, requested anonymity to discuss personnel decisions before a public announcement.

A flashpoint is expected in the coming weeks as a key advisory committee, which Kennedy has reshaped with vaccine skeptics, is expected to issue new recommendations on immunizations. The panel is scheduled to review standard childhood shots for measles, hepatitis and other diseases.

Two Republican senators called for congressional oversight and some Democrats said Kennedy should be fired. He is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill on Sept. 4.

No explanation given for CDC director’s ouster

Kennedy has not explained the decision to oust Monarez less than a month after she was sworn in, but he warned that more turnover may be ahead.

“There’s a lot of trouble at the CDC and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term, in order for us to change the institutional culture,” Kennedy said at a news conference in Texas.

The White House has only said that Monarez was “not aligned with” President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Monarez’s lawyers said she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” She is fighting her dismissal, saying the decision must come directly from Trump, who nominated her in March. The president has not said anything publicly about the matter.

It’s unclear if O’Neill, who was just sworn in as HHS’ deputy secretary, will remain in both roles as acting CDC director.

Monarez tried to block political interference, departing CDC officials say

The saga began Wednesday night with the administration’s announcement that Monarez would no longer lead the CDC. In response, three officials — Dr. Debra Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis and Dr. Daniel Jernigan — resigned from senior roles at the agency.

The officials returned to the office Thursday to collect their belongings, and hundreds of supporters gathered to applaud them as they left the Atlanta campus. There were bouquets of flowers, cheers and chants of “USA not RFK.”

Daskalakis, who resigned as head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said, “I fear that children will be hurt by poor decision making around vaccines.”

“You cannot dismantle public health and expect it to still work,” he said.

Jernigan stepped down as director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and Houry quit her post as the agency’s deputy director and chief medical officer.

Houry told The Associated Press that Monarez had tried to guard against political meddling in scientific research and health recommendations.

“We were going to see if she was able to weather the storm. And when she was not, we were done,” Houry said.

Dr. Richard Besser, a former CDC acting director, said Monarez told him that she had refused orders to fire her management team. He also said she refused to automatically sign off on any recommendations from Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine advisers.

“Dr. Monarez was one of the last lines of defense against this administration’s dangerous agenda,” said Besser, now president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which helps support The Associated Press Health and Science Department.

Health agencies have faced turmoil since Trump took office

The CDC has long been the target of controversy, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the agency struggled to balance politics and public health.

The strife only increased this year with Kennedy elevating unscientific ideas at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, while pushing waves of layoffs.

Earlier this month, a police officer was killed when a man opened fire at the agency’s headquarters because of anger over COVID-19 vaccines, which have been the subject of falsehoods and conspiracy theories. A memorial to the officer remains outside the building, close to where staff members gathered Thursday.

Monarez stands to become the shortest-serving director since the CDC was founded in 1946, exacerbating a leadership vacuum that has persisted since Trump took office. He initially chose David Weldon, a former Florida congressman who is a doctor and vaccine skeptic, but yanked the nomination in March.

Monarez was tapped next to lead the $9.2 billion agency while serving as its interim director. However, questions immediately emerged within Kennedy’s circle about her loyalty to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, especially given her previous support of the COVID-19 vaccines that Kennedy has routinely criticized.

Vaccine panel changes prompt demands for new oversight

Kennedy rarely mentioned Monarez by name in the way he did other health agency leaders such as Mehmet Oz of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or Marty Makary of the Food and Drug Administration.

One issue has been Kennedy’s handling of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group of outside experts who make recommendations to the CDC director on how to use vaccines. The recommendations are then adopted by doctors, school systems, health insurers and others.

The panel is expected to meet next month, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said any recommendations issued then will be “lacking legitimacy.”

“Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed,” said Cassidy, who heads the Senate committee overseeing Kennedy’s department. He added that “these decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted.”

Cassidy, a doctor, provided crucial support for Kennedy’s nomination after saying Kennedy had assured him that he would not topple the nation’s childhood vaccination program.

And yet, according to a government notice, the committee on Sept. 18 will take up votes on vaccines that have been settled fixtures for children, including shots to protect against hepatitis B and a combination shot against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.

Kennedy is a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement, and in June, he abruptly dismissed the entire panel, accusing members of being too closely aligned with manufacturers. He replaced them with a group that included several vaccine skeptics and then he shut the door to several doctors organizations that had long helped form vaccine recommendations.

Departing CDC officials worry science will be compromised

Houry and Daskalakis said Monarez had tried to make sure scientific safeguards were in place.

For example, she tried to replace the official who coordinated the panel’s meetings with someone who had more policy experience. Monarez also pushed to have slides and evidence reviews posted weeks before the committee’s meetings and have the sessions open to public comment, Houry said.

HHS officials nixed that and called Monarez to a meeting in Washington on Monday, Houry said.

Daskalakis described the situation as untenable.

“I came to the point personally where I think our science will be compromised, and that’s my line in the sand,” he said.

Medical and public health organizations said they worried about the future without Monarez in charge.

“The scientific community is beginning to draw a line in the sand and say, ’No way,’” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.