Maria-Leena Kerr, a native of Denmark, first came to New York in 2006 on vacation. Her vacation then turned into an obsession.
Denmark was too “hegemonic,” Kerr said. New York City, on the other hand, was a place where “differences are welcomed and celebrated."
Or so she thought. After moving to the city in 2012, Kerr built a following blogging about New York which, coupled with her hospitality degree, fast-tracked her into a career as a tour guide. But now her career is in jeopardy, as President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, a Danish territory, as well as the start of global tariffs, have soured America for the Danes.
Kerr has regular clients who book her for tours in March, April and October, but March brought no clients. A regular client who books her for April and October cancelled earlier this year.
“It almost made me cry,” Kerr remembered. “The Danish market is boycotting.”
One Facebook group, called Boykot varer fra USA, which Kerr translated to "Boycott Goods From The U.S." exploded to over 95,000 followers today from 30,000 followers when BK Reader first spoke to Kerr earlier this month.
A report from Danish news outlet DR.DK found that Denmark’s biggest travel agencies had seen 25% to 40% decline in bookings to the U.S.
An agent at one of the biggest travel agencies in Denmark told Kerr in an email she believed tourism to the U.S. was going to collapse in the coming years. "Prices are high, and many Danes have ethical concerns about traveling to the U.S.—more and more are leaning toward a boycott," the email read, according to Kerr.
Jeremy Wilcox, the spokesperson for the Guide’s Association of New York City, noted that tour guides don’t only bring in money for their families, but every tourist is also buying lodging, food and souvenirs, which help other businesses. Of the 335 guides that are members of GANYC, Wilcox said the travel boycotts have become the main topic of conversation in recent weeks.
Matt Levy, who runs Spread Love Tours, said Canadian high school groups booked $35,000 worth of tours in 2024. This year, Levy has only $5,000 worth of those tours booked. In addition, his April bookings diminished to 57 from 94 tours over the same period last year.
Levy said it has been "really tough" as he updates his 15 employees that tours keep getting cancelled.
In 2024, 13.2 million international tourists visited New York City and spent around $25 billion across the five boroughs, according to data from New York City Tourism + Conventions.
Anina Young, a guide who operates Anina NYC Travels, a tour guide company for people who use wheelchairs, said her business is also down. Canadian clients make up much of her business, but Trump’s remarks to make Canada the 51st state have made them reconsider.
One Canadian family who had booked Young for a tour of Brooklyn and Manhattan, cancelled in early March following Trump’s tariff announcement on Canada and Mexico.
“They were worried about the tariffs, and so they started just cutting expenses left and right,” Young said.
Young and Kerr said they are both reassessing their businesses. Kerr is a substitute teacher when she isn’t out guiding, but last month she had to pay her rent with her tax return because she didn’t bring in enough from her second job.
“It's like my baby is being taken away,” Kerr said. Now, she's looking at getting her hospitality certification and creating tours for locals.
Young said she isn’t living paycheck to paycheck yet, but also “can’t ride it out for a year.”
"People need to realize that people in countries like Canada and Denmark are taking this rhetoric very, very seriously," Wilcox concluded.
