2 min readMay 21, 2026 10:31 AM IST The 2026 Football World Cup may not bring the expected tourism boom to the United States, as hotels in nearly all host cities are seeing bookings far below expectations, a BBC report found. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), which represents over 32,000 hotels, says the anticipated economic lift may fall short. The BBC reports that the AHLA partly blames FIFA for block-booking too many rooms for its own use. This, the AHLA claims, created artificial demand and drove up prices. After FIFA cancelled many of those rooms, hotels were left with a sudden drop in bookings. As per the AHLA, this does not align with FIFA’s statement that more than five million tickets have been sold for the event, externally, and it creates a risk that “the anticipated economic lift may fall short”. “With the upcoming FIFA World Cup just 50 days away on 22 April, more than five million tickets have already been sold for this edition of the tournament, which is set to …