The International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) wants to emphasise travel and tourism in the United States after the election of Trump.
According to data released by the U.S Department of Commerce, a drop in international travellers to the USA by almost 700,000 in the first quarter of 2017 compared to 2016 was noticed.
During the period, European countries were down 10.1%, Mexico 7.1%. The largest drops were reported for the Middle East and Africa although these regions represent a smaller share of travel to the United States overall.
By comparison, after the re-election of Barack Obama as President of the USA, international tourism increased by 6.4% and after Obama’s first election (and during global recession that began at the end of 2008), figures decreased by 14.3% during the first quarter of 2009.
The Chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), Juergen Steinmetz, suggested several measures to react: “hire enough border enforcement officers for airports to avoid hours of waiting for our foreign visitors, […] keep visa policies flexible and implement electronic options, hire more visa officers, so we can start competing with the rest of the world and not make our visitors angry before they even arrive”. He added “offering a first world standard for hotels, transportation, roads is something the U.S. is lacking compared to many parts of the world.”
