‘Way off this year’: Faneuil Hall business cites drop in tourism, sales over the summer

As we’ll soon close another summer in New England, businesses in downtown Boston tell us this has been a quieter season than usual.

In Fanueil Hall Tuesday afternoon, international and domestic tourists lined Quincy Market after a holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, shops and stores alongside said they’ve been struggling.

“We’re getting killed in Faneuil Hall,” said Mahlon Williams, owner of I Love Boston Sports. “I mean, we’re down 40%.”

He told Boston 25 that international travelers specifically have been missing.

Williams added, “We’ve either upset them with some of the comments that have been made, or people don’t want to come here if they don’t think they’ll be able to get in or get out.”

Next door, Jason Michael Jennings has been manning the same ticket booth for City View Trolley Tours for 25 years.

“It hasn’t been good,” he said, referring to the foot traffic downtown. “It’s been off... I don’t know whether it’s the tariffs, a lot of people not coming down from Canada, I don’t know what it is. But, it’s way off this year.”

Businesses specifically cited a drop in Canadian tourists.

Inga Kim Shoi and others from Toronto were walking around Fanueil Hall as a stop on their cruise.

“The US is still the US,” she said. “So, we still go.”

The World Travel and Tourism Council this spring predicted the US would be one of the only countries where foreign visitor spending would drop in 2025.

MassPort data shows there has been little change in international travelers flying into Boston over the past two months.

MeetBoston anticipated a drop in tourism this summer when they spoke to Boston 25 this spring.

They are still gathering data from this summer.

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