[Cet article a été publié le 15 avril 2026, puis complété et republié le 27 mai.]
In Los Angeles, we wait, and we see nothing coming, and we stamp our feet. In the Californian metropolis, “hoteliers are still waiting for a peak in demand linked to the World Cup†, report it Los Angeles Times less than three weeks before the opening match. And despite the “attentes élevées†in the sector, a harsh reality is looming: “Hotel rooms in Los Angeles and other FIFA World Cup host cities could remain empty…. Worse: according to the results of a study, cited by the daily, carried out by a national association of hoteliers, many, among those in Los Angeles, “said that reservations were even lagging behind a normal summer†.
For several weeks now, the hotel sector in the United States “offers discounts†to counter the worry that “ticket prices, inflationary pressures and anti-American sentiment are not encouraging fans to reconsider their travel plans†, already noted in mid-April the Financial Times.
Hotel room rates in the cities hosting the competition, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco, have “fallen by about a third compared to the peak reached a little earlier in the year†, according to data from the analysis firm Lighthouse Intelligence.
“I see a lot of them starting to panic and lower their prices… remarks Scott Yesner, manager of a chain of hotels in Philadelphia.
Where are the “hundreds of thousands” of visitors?
“Many professionals hoped that the World Cup jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico would help reverse the downward trend for tourism in the United States†, explains the British economic media.
The expectation is all the greater as Gianni Infantino, the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), organizer of the Cup, had promised the host cities “des ‘hundreds of thousands’ of visitors… Around the “lucky few†who would have a ticket, he said, “many, many more will come simply to be a part of something exceptional†.
But Vijay Dandapani, president of the New York Hotel Association, sums up:
“It will certainly not be the rush promised by Fifa†.
Moreover, Fifa itself “has canceled thousands of overnight reservations for its technical teams†.
Aran Ryan, from the specialist firm Tourism Economics, expects “3.4% increase in the number of international visitors to the United States this year, compared to an estimate of 3.9% in December†. He explains that “Ticket prices, border controls and hostility towards the United States are causing concern, which is aggravated by the war in Iran.”
