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Presidential travel can make for splashy headlines—as when President Trump touched down in Riyadh trailed by nearly three dozen U.S. business titans hoping to ink deals alongside him.
Photos of red carpets, armored limousines, and pallet‑loads of equipment revive an enduring question: Who exactly boards Air Force One with the president, and how big is the bill they rack up as they travel around the world? The answer is often several millions of dollars. And in almost every case, taxpayers foot the costs of aircraft, security, lodging, and logistics.
With Congress sparring over the budget, taxpayers have fresh reason to scrutinize the tab.
Key Takeaways
- A foreign trip by the president can cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
- Air Force One alone runs around $200,000 per flight hour.
- A modern presidential trip can require up to 1,000 hotel rooms and multiple cargo jets.
From Panama Adventure to Saudi Arabia
The road—or rather the sea lane—to modern presidential globetrotting began when Theodore Roosevelt sailed to Panama in 1906, becoming the first sitting president to leave the country on official business. His 17‑day tour of the canal signaled that personal diplomacy was worth the expense and security risk.
Fast‑forward a century and the presidential caravan has ballooned from a Navy battleship and a handful of aides to include multiple jumbo jets, motorcades, and mobile command centers.
Who Actually Makes the Trip Today?
A typical foreign visit now moves several concentric rings of personnel:
- White House core staff: The president along with key policy advisers, schedulers, and official photographers. Members of the president’s family may also be on board.
- National security team: The military aide with the “nuclear football,” intelligence officers, and combat medics.
- Secret Service: Hundreds of agents plus advance teams that scout and lock down venues days ahead of time.
- Military logistics: Air Force One as well as cargo planes hauling “The Beast” armored limousine, spare parts, and even pints of the president’s blood in case of a medical emergency.
- Diplomats and specialists: State Department protocol officers, translators, cybersecurity crews.
- Press pool: Roughly a dozen rotating reporters.
- VIP guests: Official trips may also include VIPs that may include celebrities, corporate leaders, or even scientists.
Add it up and the traveler count routinely includes hundreds of people. Advance teams scout security and travel agents hold hotel rooms across multiple cities, while local embassies lease extra vehicles and hire drivers.
| Presidential Trips Abroad | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Trips | Countries Visited | Days |
| Eisenhower | 16 | 36 | 94 |
| Kennedy | 8 | 16 | 33 |
| Johnson | 11 | 27 | 37 |
| Nixon | 15 | 42 | 82 |
| Ford | 7 | 19 | 38 |
| Carter | 12 | 30 | 68 |
| Reagan | 25 | 47 | 118 |
| Bush, G.H.W. | 25 | 60 | 102 |
| Clinton | 55 | 134 | 233 |
| Bush, G.W. | 49 | 140 | 215 |
| Obama | 52 | 112 | 218 |
| Trump (first term) | 19 | 25 | 53 |
| Biden | 21 | 28 | 61 |
The Costs and the Controversies
Because detailed budgets are often classified, outside estimates of the cost of presidential travel vary widely. Analyses by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation show that Air Force One alone can run roughly $5 million for a quick, single‑country visit, while multi‑stop tours can exceed $20 million once hotels, cargo flights, and per‑diem costs for hundreds of staff are added. When Trump traveled to Israel during his first term, he took up six floors at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem where top suites can run $5,500 per night—and over 1,100 rooms were reserved in other hotels around the city.
Even domestic presidential travel comes with a hefty price tag. President Obama took a short trip in 2013 to Chicago and then Palm Beach, incurring a $2.8 million bill to the Department of Defense and nearly a million more to the Department of Homeland Security. The Government Accountability Office also tallied $13.6 million for four Trump weekends in Florida—about $3.4 million each, dominated by aircraft fuel and Secret Service overtime.
Frustrated by heavily redacted expense sheets, transparency advocates have increasingly taken to Freedom of Information Act requests, contending that only disclosure can expose the true costs of presidential travel. Watchdog groups like American Oversight have sued multiple agencies to force disclosure of air‑travel records, arguing that opaque reporting masks excess spending.
Important
Pentagon data peg Air Force One operating costs at about $200,000 per hour.
Bottom Line
From Roosevelt’s canal inspection to today’s jet-setting trade missions, presidential travel has evolved into a high‑stakes, high‑cost spectacle. What is clear: every foreign stop requires parallel flights, armored convoys, security teams, communications uplinks, and surge staffing—expenses that accumulate long before reporters snap the first tarmac handshake. For taxpayers eyeing deficits, each overseas salute is a reminder that diplomacy doesn’t come cheap.
