With Donald Trump elected President, and that awful man demanding that there be a temporary ban on travel to/from a number of Muslim countries, the world was horrified, and international tourism dropped through a trap door, with disastrous results for the US travel industry.
Did you believe any of what you just read? I hope not.
Here’s a markedly different story, from the first few paragraphs of Beth J. Harpaz’s article, for the Associated Press, about travel in the Trump era so far. Please take a look – and then use this link to read the rest:
But those fears may have been premature. International arrivals and travel-related spending are up in 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.
There might even be a “Trump bump,” says Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, a nonprofit representing the travel industry.
A few months ago, Dow and others warned that President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and ban on travel from a handful of mostly Muslim countries could send an anti-tourism message.
Latest numbers from the U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trends Index showed 6.6 percent growth in international travel to the U.S. in April and 5 percent growth in May compared with the same months last year. The Travel Trends Index uses hotel, airline and U.S. government data.
Individual sectors have good news, too. Hotel occupancy for the first five months of 2017 was “higher than it has ever been before,” said Jan Freitag, senior vice president with STR, which tracks hotel industry data.
What does that look like to you? A slump or a bump?
But you have to love Roger Dow’s comment that, “Everyone wants me to tell the story of the sky is falling, but for the travel industry, the sky is not falling.”
“Everyone” wants you to tell that story, Mr. Dow? Please educate us: who is “everyone”? I like to think of myself as part of “everyone”, and I’m very happy you aren’t telling that story. And I have a feeling I’m far from alone.
You don’t mean”everyone” at all, do you, Mr. Dow? You mean the Trump haters who are avidly rooting for the USA economy, among other things, to crash during Donald Trump’s presidency, to “prove” that they were right about him, don’t you?
Well, for travel it’s not happening. At least not so far.
Sorry if I can’t wish you better luck next time.
