US President Donald Trump owns hotels and resorts. Can he get international tourists to visit America First? The reality looks different, which seems to align with the Trump administration’s modus operandi.
The U.S. travel and tourism industry is bracing for a record loss in tourism exports this year, with no COVID-19 pandemic on the horizon—and this is seen as the Trump Effect.
Canadians and Europeans are giving the U.S. their cold shoulder and changing travel plans to other countries.
Flair Airlines recently announced it would end flights from Canada to Nashville, and Canadians switched from Tennessee to Canadian-made products. Air Canada has said it would reduce flights to Arizona, Florida, and Las Vegas starting this month, while WestJet told the Canadian Press that it had seen bookings shift from the U.S. to places like Mexico and the Caribbean. Sunwing Airlines has dropped all of its U.S. flights while Air Transat has reduced service to the country, the outlet reported.
This may only be the beginning, based on shrinking bookings from many European gateways to the United States. Since such slots are hard to get, many flights may continue, but due to expected low bookings for airlines, they could become more expensive and less lucrative.
Possible changes and delays in obtaining visas may add to the problems for the U.S. Travel and Tourism industry.
Tourism Resilience?
The Jamaica-based Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Center has been speechless about developments in the United States—or may work in the background to shift priorities.
At their recent conference in Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Michael Holness hinted that Jamaica needs to diversify its tourism priorities due to President Trump’s taking the helm in the United States.
The U.S. needs your help!
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
Robert Bernard Reich was born in 1946 to a Jewish family in Scranton. He is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. Reich worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and served as Secretary of Labor in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet from 1993 to 1997. He was also a member of President Barack Obama’s economic transition advisory board.
Please do not visit the United States of America at this time.
Mr. Reich wants potential foreign visitors to rethink their travel plans to the United States.
He says on his blog:
Message to friends of democracy around the world: We need your help:
You know that the Trump regime is brutally attacking US democracy. Most of us did not vote for Donald Trump (half didn’t even vote in the 2024 election). But he feels he is mandated to take a wrecking ball to the constitution.
Stand up to the Bully
Like most bullies, the regime can be constrained only if everyone—including you — stands up to the bullying.
- First, if you are considering a trip to the United States, please reconsider. Why reward Trump’s America with your tourist dollars?
- Spending by non-Americans in the United States is a significant source of tax revenue and a major “export” of this nation. There’s no reason for you to support Trump’s economy indirectly.
- Many international travelers concerned about Trump’s authoritarianism have already canceled trips to the United States. You might do so, too.
200% Tariff
Last week, the US president threatened a 200% tariff on European wine and alcohol after calling the European Union “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.”
Why reward this bellicose rhetoric?
Many Europeans are already skipping trips to Disney World and music festivals.
Travel from China, a frequent target of Trump’s contempt, is down 11%. Chinese travelers are choosing to vacation in Australia and New Zealand instead of visiting US national parks.
Our dear neighbors north of the border, who have long been the major source of international travel to the United States, are deciding to visit Europe and Mexico instead.
In response to Trump’s repeated desire to make Canada a “51st state”, Canada’s former prime minister Justin Trudeau has urged Canadians not to vacation in the US.
An informal boycott by Canadian travelers has begun.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians returning by car from visits to the United States already fell by 23% in February, and air travel by Canadians returning from the United States was down 13% relative to last year. Overall, international travel to the United States is expected to drop by at least 5% this year.
- Although we have loved (and profited from) your visits, I urge you to join many of your compatriots and, at least for now, decide not to come to the United States.
- Second, if you are considering coming to the United States as a student or even on an H-1B visa, which allows highly skilled foreign citizens to live and work here, you might also reconsider.
Perhaps wait a few years until, hopefully, the Trump regime has ended.
In any event, it is not entirely safe for you to be here!
Dr Rasha Alawieh, 34, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school, was deported without explanation, even though a court order had blocked her expulsion. She had been in the United States legally on an H-1 B visa.
Dr Alawieh had traveled to Lebanon, her home country, last month to visit relatives. When she tried to return to the United States from that trip, she was detained by US customs and immigration officials and put on a flight to Paris, presumably on her way to Lebanon.
Lebanon is not even on a draft list of nations from which the Trump administration is considering banning entry to the United States.
Even if there’s a shortage of skilled workers in your specialty in the US, you could be deported anytime for any reason.
Likewise, considering coming to the US on a student visa, you might think of the risk now. A Columbia University graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested and detained for no reason other than that he peacefully protested against Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza.
The administration of Brown University has advised foreign students, before spring break, to “consider postponing or delaying personal travel outside the United States until more information is available from the US Department of State.”
It is not just the risk.
It’s also the circumstances. If you care about democracy, this is not the time to come here on a student or H-1B visa because the Trump regime is riding roughshod over our rights.