US Business Travel 2017: Trump Immigration Ban Results In $185 Million Loss In Bookings In A Week After Executive Order, Report Says

Travel companies across the country said that demand for travel to the United States dropped considerably after President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order on travel ban in January.

ForwardKeys, which analyzes 16 million flight reservations a day from major global reservation systems, said international travel to the country dropped by 6.5 percent in the days after the Jan. 27 ban. In its report Monday, the company said although bookings picked up after the court halted the ban, they again began sliding after the Trump administration announced plans for a new travel ban in mid-February, Reuters reported.

"Uncertainty reigns and the presidential rhetoric appears to be deterring visitors to the U.S.," ForwardKeys founder Olivier Jager said in a statement.

ForwardKeys had said last month that travel from the U.S. to and from the countries of Middle East has been hit the most after Trump's executive order that temporarily banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

The Global Business Travel Association, a business travel and meetings organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., estimated in a report released Feb. 23 that for the week Trump's travel ban was in effect, the U.S. lost $185 million in travel bookings. The report said: "Given that for every 1 percent impact on business travel spending annually, the United States gains or loses 71,000 jobs, nearly $5 billion in GDP, $3 billion in wages and $1.2 billion in tax collections, a loss in business travel also leaves a lasting negative impact on our economy."

U.S. travel demand is going to be a hot topic at ITB Berlin, the world's largest travel fair, which will be held from March 8 to 12. In the ITB World travel trends report for 2016-2017, Rolf Freitag, president and founder of IPK International, said: "It remains to be seen whether the election result will have any impact on international travel to the USA next year. In the past, the dollar exchange rate has been a more important factor influencing demand for travel to the USA than issues such as security or immigration policies.”

There have been reports of declining number of flights to the U.S. from around the world following Trump's travel ban announcement. Another travel site, Hopper, in a report released Feb. 23, said searches for flights to America had dropped globally by an average of 22 percent.