Trump’s fenced off DC landmarks has tourists staying away: ‘People just aren’t coming’
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Washington, D.C. tour operators are seeing a drop in bookings as visitors are staying away amid President Donald Trump’s construction projects that have major landmarks fenced off for renovation or repairs.
Trump has sought to transform iconic buildings and sites across the nation’s capital since returning to office in January 2025, but construction is deterring tourists and impacting business, several tour operators told The Washington Post.
Guides added that they believe international tourists are shunning the U.S. partly because of Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda, trade tariffs and the deployment of the National Guard on the streets.
“We are on track to conclude 2026 with a loss,” Carolyn Crouch of Washington Walks told the Post. “The current administration has not only created lots of obstructed views and made the National Mall look in some places like a work in progress, it has also made our city’s brand toxic.”
Photographer David Luria, who runs Washington Photo Safari, said that bookings are down an estimated 50 percent from last year. “People just aren’t coming,” the longtime D.C. resident told the Post.
Luria said that landmarks his clients can either no longer see or no longer want to see include the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, sealed off and drained following a botched repair job; where the White House East Wing once stood before it was demolished to make way for the estimated $900 million ballroom; and the Kennedy Center, now draped in tarps and scaffolding.
Rauf Shakir, co-owner of USA Guided Tours, said that “it has been hands down our worst year,” citing a 65 to 75 percent drop in revenue from two years ago.
“Everything that happened with immigration and countries being put on lists by the administration really hurt us,” Shakir told the Post. “The other issue is the images people were seeing of the National Guard on the streets. I think that discouraged a lot of people from coming to D.C.”
Camden Arciniega, co-owner of DC by Foot Tours, said that it has been a challenging year. “The biggest complaint we hear from visitors is we can’t get our pictures without fences,” Arciniega told the newspaper. The company’s Capitol Hill tour used to run twice daily Tuesday through Saturday, but the schedule has been scaled back to four per week amid a drop in demand, according to Arciniega.
The business owner added that she felt that international guests were staying away “for political reasons and visa reasons and, you know, fear of deportation.”
The White House blasted the tour guides’ assertions that Trump’s sweeping construction projects and the administration’s immigration policies have harmed D.C. businesses. “This is a completely false narrative,” spokeswoman Lauren Bis told the outlet.
“President Trump has transformed our nation’s capital from a crime-ridden city into a safe and beautiful haven for residents and visitors alike by removing violent criminals from the streets, cleaning up the parks, and making long-overdue renovations to public lands,” Bis said.
Bis also touted the “record number of Americans and foreign tourists” who traveled to D.C. to mark America’s 250th birthday, including for the UFC fight, Grand Prix, and Independence Day celebrations.
D.C. saw more than 27.2 million visitors in 2025, up slightly from 2024, according to the nonprofit Destination DC. International visitors in 2025 declined 4 percent.
Fewer people are choosing to visit the U.S. as visitor numbers dropped 5.5 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, according to a study earlier this year.
The downward trend was largely driven by Canada, with 4.2 million fewer Canadians heading south to the U.S. for vacations.
“President Trump has done more for American tourism than anyone, including by making our cities safe and beautiful again for all to enjoy and bringing major events like the Los Angeles Olympics and Fifa World Cup to the United States,” deputy press secretary Anna Kelly previously told The Independent.
“His America First agenda has restored our country’s place as the leader of the free world once again – making it the best place to live or visit.”
