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Sunday, February 26th, 2017

You could call US tourism a victim of Trump’s travel ban

Author:     Christopher Muther
Source:     Boston Globe
Publication Date:     February 14, 2017
 Link: You could call US tourism a victim of Trump’s travel ban
Stephan:   For the past several weeks I have been getting emails from my non-U.S. readers either asking me "What is going on in America?," or telling me "Do you realize that people now are changing their minds about coming to America?"  The questions are not unfamiliar. When I've traveled out of the U.S., a trip to Scandinavia, and another  to Italy particularly come to mind, I've heard over and over about how dangerous people think it is to travel to the U.S., particularly certain cities. I've listened to people quizzing me about our rampant gun culture, asking was it safe? And now with Trump's border and travel restriction madness we have made threatening behavior towards foreigners government policy. Negative economic consequences are already visible. There are over 8 million people directly employed in the American tourism industry, and there are parts of the country that depend on tourists. We are building a wall costing billions of dollars to keep out others even as they are less and less interested in coming.

President Trump’s travel ban targeting nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries may not have held up in court, but it appears quite successful at keeping plenty of other people out of the United States.

Trump’s order brought with it a swift decline in the number of worldwide tourists and travelers looking to visit the United States, say people in the tourism industry. Some say it could be as damaging to the US tourism sector as the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Online booking websites reported that flight searches from international points of origin to the United States were down anywhere from 6 percent to 17 percent since Trump signed the executive order on Jan. 27. But experts say what’s more alarming is the icy message it sends to the world.

“The US is in danger of taking the same path it took after Sept. 11, which led to a decade of economic stagnation in the travel and tourism sector,” said David Scowsill, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council. “Strict visa policies and inward-looking sentiment led to a $600 billion loss in tourism revenues in the decade post 9/11.

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1 Comment

  1. GALEN on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 5:58 am

    I called this weeks ago because of my 25 years experience in the tourism industry. Pay attention to the Travel Industry Association trade show.. It’s called POW WOW. More than 6500 delegates come together for 5 days in a major US city usually in May. International Tour Operators come to the US to meet with suppliers to put together their 2017 packages.

    Please check it out. Attendance will be down. Bookings will be down. All because of the Trump administration bans.

    Note that I was on the Board of TIA and attended Pow Wow for more than 15 years.