re: "The Trump Slump" : Devastating drop in tourism to the United States

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Some data suggests a downturn in bookings in the days after the ban was announced.

StudentUniverse.com, a site geared to travelers ages 18-26, said bookings from the United Kingdom to the U.S. dropped 19 percent between Jan. 27 and Feb. 7 compared to the same period last year. ForwardKeys, which analyzes 16 million flight reservation transactions a day, said bookings to the U.S. dropped 6.5 percent between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 compared with the same period in 2016.

An op-ed piece in the Toronto Star newspaper last week encouraged Canadians to “boycott vacations to the U.S.” until Trump’s term is over. “The Grand Canyon will still be there,” the piece said. “The Golden Gate Bridge. Mount Rushmore. Disney World. They’ll all be there. And with any luck, the Statue of Liberty will still be there too.”

Travel agent Melissa Erskine, owner of iDream Travel based in Ontario, Canada, says some of her clients “are no longer interested in going to the U.S. due to Donald Trump’s policies and have looked at other options within Canada. I just booked flights for two families to New York City for April and they have taken out trip cancellation insurance … They wanted peace of mind that they can cancel their trip if needed.”

Fred Dixon, CEO of NYC & Co., New York’s tourism agency, said Canada is New York’s second-biggest international market after the United Kingdom, “so when our neighbors to the north call for a boycott, it’s a huge cause for concern.”

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