Southeast Asians are skipping trips to the United States this year — for a variety of reasons.
Singaporeans, however, are rejecting it at greater levels than others, a survey of 6,000 regional travelers showed.
The survey commissioned by CNBC Travel showed 7% of Singaporeans said their interest in visiting the U.S. increased this year, while more than half (55%) said their interest had decreased.
Both numbers veer sharply from the 44% of Southeast Asian respondents who said their interest in the U.S. increased this year, and the 18% who said it fell, according to the survey conducted by the market research company Milieu Insight.
Time and again, the survey showed that Singaporeans’ views of the U.S. differed from those from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia — often by a wide margin.
Singaporeans were the only respondents in the survey to say that they still get most of their information from local and international news. Respondents from the other five countries, including 80% of those from Thailand, said social media is their primary news source.
Higher levels of concern
The survey, which was conducted from May 22 to June 10, showed Singaporeans are more concerned about traveling to the U.S. than others in the region, in relation to:
- their personal safety in the U.S. (+13 percentage points)
- possible discrimination or poor treatment while there (+17 percentage points)
- actions by the Trump administration (+18 percentage points)
- gun violence (+20 percentage points)
- border detentions (+13 percentage points)
Since Singapore has low crime rates, its citizens have high safety expectations, said Zilmiyah Kamble, a senior lecturer for hospitality and tourism management at James Cook University.
The country often ranks as one of the safest countries in the world.
Singaporean Kimberly Kwok said she’s steering clear of the U.S. this year, she said.
“I haven’t been too particularly interested in going to the U.S., mostly because of my safety,” she said. “You see a lot of articles on the news about hate crimes against Asians — and also the firearms.”
Singaporean university student Cayla Tham also said guns, which are not common in Southeast Asian societies, have dampened her interest in visiting the U.S.
Politics and tariffs aren’t her main concerns, she said. Rather, “it’s more about how firearms are allowed. I feel like [regulations] are not really enforced.”
Visas and detentions
The survey showed that Singaporeans are less worried than other respondents about two issues: travel costs and visa requirements.
In early 2025, the Henley Passport Index showed that Singapore had the strongest passport in the world.
However, Singaporeans were the least confident about passing through U.S. immigration controls, the survey showed. Some 60% said they felt the process would be smooth, compared to 78% of those from other parts of Southeast Asia.
“When I go to immigration, I would be worried if whether I’ll be detained just because I’m [ethnically] Chinese,” Singaporean Tiffany Ng told CNBC.
Ng said her perception of the U.S. has changed, specifically over the last six months.
“I feel that it’s become more of an unsafe place,” she said. “It seems quite unsettled.”
Singaporean citizen Rahul Jain said the U.S. is not in his travel list this year. He recalled experiencing “lots of scrutiny, lots of checks” from U.S. immigration authorities in the past.
But for him, the issues are deeper, he said.
“The violence there, the crime there, the poverty,” he said. “I’m sure the situation there is not as bad as the media makes it out to be, but … why take a chance?”
