US International Tourism Market Share Is Falling Under Trump (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The United States' slice of the international tourism pie is declining, according to a new report from Foursquare that looks at data from millions of phones worldwide. The US share of international tourism dropped 16% in March 2017 compared with the previous year. And it declined an average of 11% year over year in months spanning October 2016 to March 2017, according to the report. The drop coincides with the final month of the US election, the Trump transition, and the early months of the Trump administration, which notably imposed a travel ban on people from several majority-Muslim countries in January 2017 that was eventually halted in court but is currently under appeal. Declines in tourism market share from people originating in the Middle East were more pronounced than the rest of the world, down 25% this January, along with a smaller decrease from South America, Foursquare found. The data accounts for the percentage of international tourism coming to the US and not the absolute number of tourists, but Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck told BuzzFeed News that it's unlikely tourist visits to the US increased while share declined. "I don't think you'd see a 16% decline in international market share and absolute numbers being up. I don't think that's compatible," he said. "The volume of tourism doesn't change that fast."

Comments

Good

[Anonymous Coward]

There have to be consequences when a country treats their visitors the way the US do.

Re:Good

[ganjadude]

if you actually look at the graph, it was falling prior to the election at almost the same rate, you know the time frame when we were 98% sure hillary was going to win. so lets not try and put this on trump. i know thats the popular thing to do but seriously. this is a non story

Re:Good

[jellomizer]

I wouldn't say there has to be consequences. However the political redirect of the ruling party, does make the United States seem to be an uninviting place to visit.
I wouldn't want to visit a country, where I could get arrested or just harassed just because of my cultural differences. We should welcome visitors, because someone coming to our country to visit says that we are special enough for that person to be interested in visiting us, and they will be bringing their money to spend. It should be an opportunity to put our best foot forward.

Re:Good

[I)_MaLaClYpSe_(I]

I have circumstantial evidence suggesting Trump is the reason: I would have loved to revisit the US this year but if I have to disclose my social media accounts and phone or social media login details, I will spare you from the several thousand bucks that I would have carried across the pond to you.

Re:Good

[quantaman]

if you actually look at the graph, it was falling prior to the election at almost the same rate, you know the time frame when we were 98% sure hillary was going to win. so lets not try and put this on trump. i know thats the popular thing to do but seriously. this is a non story

Even when we thought Hillary would win we were still appalled by the fact that Trump was not only nominated, but that he was making it an actual race.

For all his celebrity Trump is terrible marketing for the US.

Re:Good

[Anonymous Coward]

Discussing Trump with a Trump supporter is like discussing a Nigerian prince with someone who just started using email and is convinced they're about become a multimillionaire.

It would have been a valid point that the graph doesn't go back far enough to rule out effects from seasonal variations - if you had made that point. But your claim that US tourism was falling at the same rate prior to the election is total BS. Yes, there was a significant drop from September to October. But the month before that it was level. And the month before that it was increasing.

I know you want to believe in your Nigerian prince. But the data does strongly suggest that Trump's policy toward foreign visitors is hurting the US tourism industry.

Re:Good

[Anonymous Coward]

I have circumstantial evidence suggesting Trump is the reason: I would have loved to revisit the US this year but if I have to disclose my social media accounts and phone or social media login details, I will spare you from the several thousand bucks that I would have carried across the pond to you.

As if this shit wasn't in full bloom with Obama at the helm. There just is less pretense now.

Re:Good

[Opportunist]

When in the past 16 years weren't you?

Re:Good

[mrvan]

Yeah. It's not just Trump, and it's been going on for longer. I've been visiting the US regularly for work and tourism for at least the past 15 years, have lived there for half a year and had an American girlfriend for a while. Although every state has the right to subject foreign visitors to whatever restrictions and procedure they please, if they don't make me feel welcome it won't help convincing me to come again and spend money. My gripes:

- The ESTA procedure, where we have to fill out some stupid web form in advance. It's not so much bother, but I'm a frequent traveller to many countries and it is easy to forget. Just give me the option to fill it in at the airport and let me run the (negligible) risk of not being admitted once I get there, or at least send me reminder emails between booking my flight and getting approval.

- With the ESTA procedure, the US is the only developed/"western" country I have to pay to get in. I expect that kind of nonsense from Turkey or Vietnam, not the US...

- Since living in Israel (a staunch US ally) for a semester and visiting tourist sites in nearby Jordan (with whom the US has friendly relations) I am frequently picked out of the line for extra questioning, often adding 30-60 minutes to my time to get through immigration. I can understand it the first time, but after having determined that I'm bona fide, just put a frigging note in my case file and leave me alone next time. Also, for me it is mosly annoying and sometimes amusing, but if I were non-white or had an arabic name I'm sure it would go from bad to worse pretty quickly.

There must be a much smarter way to reduce risk of incoming visitors without annoying legimitate travelers, but it seems that the people in charge just don't care / don't see the real economic effects of current policy.

Re:Good

[jawtheshark]

Yeah, well... I'm in the same boat. I would love to return to the US, but I said "I'm sure they'll become reasonable again when George Bush leaves office". Wait... George Bush? Yes! George Bush! It never got better, only got worse! My wife reminds me from time to time: You said we would go when Bush is gone... I usually reply: Yes, I did, but I assumed it would bet better again.

This really isn't a caused by Trump. It's just gone downhill all these years with no hope of it getting better ever again. I don't expect to visit the US ever again.

Re:Good

[mnmn]

I'd be the last person to defend Trump, but I have to add my voice.

As a Canadian, I had my social media accounts checked only once. It was brutal, 4 TSA guys asked me to login into both of my email accounts and facebook to go over months of texts and emails. Many questions were asked and many personal pictures were viewed. They had snarky comments to add but they did not find anything illegal. They did fixate on why my sister in law visited her family in Pakistan many years ago and if she saw terrorists, saw guns, saw bombs there etc etc. Things that make you go WTF.

This went on for more than 2 hours while I paid for the long distance data plan. I have not before or since been checked this way, but I've been super careful of adding bearded friends on facebook or any jokes I share. Anything I write might be held against me years later as I go to my vacation passing through the USA.

This was during the Obama administration.

Trump and high USD

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Canadian who vacations at least 2 to 3 times a year in the US, I can confirm that we will be curtailing our travels to not only some of the new Trumpisms we simply don't want to deal with (e.g. threat of being heavily annoyed at the border) but the extremely unattractive US Dollar exchange.

Seriously though, Florida and border states (we live next to NY and VT) will feel it the most. We have seen it in the past, and some places will get desperate enough to sell stuff at par.

On a different note, Americans, please come to Canada and spend your money here, we don't really hate you, we love your tourist dollars. Buy stuff.
thanks

Nobody wants to be treated like a criminal

[ZorinLynx]

If another country started to demand people's social media passwords, full access to phones, etc. as a possible condition to enter, I certainly wouldn't want to go there. Who wants to be treated like a criminal when they're on vacation trying to relax and have a good time?

People take their privacy seriously. The word has gotten around that the US is poking more and more into people's data when they visit. There's plenty of other beautiful places to visit in the world, so obviously tourism to the US will go down.

Treat visitors as guests and not suspiciously, damnit.

Re:Nobody wants to be treated like a criminal

[arth1]

The last few years, it has become more arduous to try to visit USA, and it's gotten progressively worse under both GWB and Obama, and there's little hope it will get better under Trump.

For the 38 countries on the visa waiver program, you now have to get a new passport with a chip, then apply electronically for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), pay for it through a credit card, and answer mandatory questions that you previously didn't have to answer, like your employer, name of your parents, city of birth, and the name of a U.S. contact (which you may not even have if you're a pure tourist).
And if you've been a tourist to some countries that the US doesn't like, you get denied. Even if you have absolutely no affiliation to those countries and only like to travel the world.
And that's before you get to the airport and is subjected to the rather unfriendly border checks.

I tell my European friends to think twice before visiting. And no, they can't use me as their U.S. contact, because I don't want to be added to the database for 15 years and get goonies at my door if someone with a similar name as them ever does something bad.

Avoiding USA

[LQ]

I was speaking to someone from a tour company that organises special interest escorted tours all around the world. He said they have stopped running tours to the US because they've had so many bad experiences with border protection. If one person out of a group gets held for a couple of hours, they're not only traumatised but the whole tour gets off on a wrong foot.

Can't hang it on Trump

[mi]

if I have to disclose my social media accounts and phone or social media login details, I will spare you from the several thousand bucks

Trump had, literally, nothing to do with it. Here is a June 28th 2016 article about the searches, but our racist media gave Obama a pass until Trump got elected. And then, before the President-elect even entered office, there was an avalanche of articles about the "new" procedures — not directly blaming him, but planting the negative thoughts in the gullible heads (like yours and those of your adoring moderators here today). Only some of the reports mentioned the truth:

searches increased fivefold in the final fiscal year of the Obama presidency

So, no, it had nothing to do with Trump. More likely, the reason is the growth of dollar since last December — vacationing in the US simply became more expensive for foreigners, while going abroad became cheaper for Americans.