Trump Slump? International Tourism To US Declines

International tourism to the U.S. declined nearly 4 percent in the first six months of the year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) with some experts placing the blame on President Donald Trump.

Fewer visitors from nearly every region of the world visited the U.S. as compared to last year including Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South and Central America and the Caribbean, according to the Associated Press Thursday. The only place to send more tourists to the U.S. as compared to last year was Canada, there was a 5 percent jump in Canadian tourism to the U.S. as compared to 2016.

The first six months of 2017 saw around 33.8 million international travelers visit the U.S., a 3.9 percent dip from last year. The beginning of summer was particularly rough, as visitors in June fell 6.7 percent compared to last year.

“The latest government travel data is deeply concerning not just to our industry, but to anyone who cares about the economic well-being of the United States,” said Roger Dow, chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association in a statement.“Travel is our country’s No. 2 export and supports more than 15 million American jobs. These numbers are an undeniable wake-up call, and correcting this troubling trend needs to become a national priority.”

The U.S. Travel Association is a non-profit that represents the travel industry.

Trump’s attempts at travel bans — January and March executive orders barring travel from six Muslim-majority countries that were blocked by the Supreme Court — may have turned some travelers off.

“When Donald Trump came in with his travel ban, there was a noticeable drop [in travel] to the U.S. …And then when the ban was overturned, there was a recovery. And when a new ban was announced, there was a drop off,” David Tarsh, a spokesman for ForwardKeys, an airline booking research firm, told CNN in June.

The Global Business Travel Association, an advocacy group, estimated that the U.S. would lose $1.3 billion this year due to less travel.

“We urge the Trump Administration to consider the important lasting impact of business travel and enact policies going forward that preserve both our national security AND our economy for the future,” the group said in May.

The Middle East and Mexico were two places that saw some of the largest decreases in travel to the U.S. Travel to the U.S. from the Middle East dropped 30 percent in the first six months of this year as compared to last year, and Mexican travel dropped 9.6 percent.