There's no denying the fact that President elect Trump has seriously affected the travel industry. Uncertainty is the catch cry in newspapers from around the world when it comes to the effect of the change of government in United States.
As usual there are two sides to the coin. One side of the coin says there's been a serious decline in travel plans for destinations USA. The other side of the coin says there are some destinations that have picked up the slack.
Inbound travel to the United States is down as the anti-Middle East, anti-Latino, anti-Asian/Chinese rhetoric of the USA is broadcast 24/7 by the media around the world. The rhetoric has affected overall travelling public, in some cases shifting its travel destinations to what is generally perceived as the more "open-minded" destinations within the United States. Travellers have said that they are concerned about Trump supporters being coming embolden to speak and lash out at 'non-Americans' and could cause problems for everyday foreign visitors. This has led to a decrease in travel to some key 'red label' Republican held states such as Florida, Texas, and generally the south of the United States. Those destinations loss has become, in some cases, the gain for destinations that are considered more 'blue label', or moderate, in the eyes of the travelling public. Those destinations include places like Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and many Democratic Party voting states.
The effect of the Trump election on future travel to the USA
| Destination City | Percentage of search requests change from September 15, to November 22 |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles - LAX | +366% |
| Dallas - DFW | -22% |
| Miami - MIA | -71% |
| New York - JFK | -49% |
| Seattle -SEA | +102% |
With the USA on the nose for travel, trending on the Future.Travel site for international destinations has been leaning toward Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and Finland. While the figures for the USA destinations are down now, the domestic traffic flows to New York are actually up by 20% as 'locals' reassess their holiday/work destinations. The results here are not scientific rather a snapshot in time for some very specific destinations, with out reference to travel dates or length of stay.
With consolidated results coming from the meta search engines Skyscanner and Wego who utilise Future.Travel as a source of flight details, the results are just a fraction of more than 800,000 searches done on average each month on the Future.Travel website. What this snapshot should do is encourage the affected cities, listed and unlisted, to pick up their game in marketing to the downturn; have the public realise that they do have a choice of destinations where ethnic diversity is appreciated; and for everyone to understand that while sticks and stones can break our bones... words can really hurt us... particularly if they are spoken by existing or future government/political representatives of sovereign nations.
