‘Trump Slump’ threatens to harm U.S. tourism revenue

Travel experts are warning of an impending ‘Trump Slump’, with international travelers from around the world losing interest in visiting America. Prominent travel website Kayak has described international demand for U.S. Tourism as having “fallen off a cliff”.

Signals show a sharp decline in U.S. tourism demand

UK-based travel website Kayak has announced that online searches for popular destinations in Florida such as Miami, Tampa and Orlando have dropped by over 50 per cent, with other popular American destinations also taking large hits - with searches for Las Vegas dropping by 36 per cent, searches for Los Angeles dropping by 32 percent, and searches for San Diego dropping by 43 per cent.

International travel company Hopper has seen a 17% percent drop in overall demand for US flights since the election of Donald Trump, citing a reduction in interest from 94 different countries. Demand is 10 percent lower than it was during the last weeks of Obama’s tenure, and Hopper has noted a surprising inverse correlation between interest in Russian and U.S. tourism - with demand for Russian flights having spiked by nearly 90 percent in recent months.

Economic impacts may be widespread

The damaging economic effects of the ‘Trump Slump’ could we far reaching, with the travel industry in New York City alone being valued at $60 billion annually.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, it is estimated that tourism accounts for 8 percent of total American GDP, and is responsible for 9.3 percent of total employment.

As a consequence of declining demand hotel prices in popular holiday destinations have seen sharp declines, with average prices in Las Vegas dropping by 39 percent, San Francisco hotels dropping by 34 percent, and New York hotels dropping by 32 per cent.

Experts are citing Trump’s executive order which halted immigration from seven major Muslim-majority nations as the principal catalyst for the declining demand, stating that interest in American tourism reached its lowest point internationally on the Saturday following the announcement of the executive order.