45’s recklessness isn’t just dividing America, it might be costing dividends. According to The New York Times, tourists from all over the world are taking their business elsewhere to avoid the gun violence, bigotry and security headaches that come with traveling to Donald Trump‘s Great White America. Oxford’s Tourism Economics estimates that the drop will cost the U.S. economy about $2.7 billion.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 700,000 less visitors in the first quarter of 2017 than 2016 – for comparison, there was an almost 20% increase in tourism the quarter after Barack Obama was elected in 2008.
- 10.1 percent less Europeans visitors and less 7.1% Mexican visitors
- In June, the Pew Research Center reported that 49 percent of those surveyed in 37 nations had a positive view of the United States, compared to 64 percent at the end of President Obama’s term in office.
Now that Trump’s bigotry is armed with executive power, we are seeing how policies like a travel ban and border wall work in a global economy. A Muslim woman from London told The Times, “We wanted to visit N.Y.C. this summer but decided against it simply because we felt we wouldn’t be welcome there and didn’t want to waste precious holiday time in case there was a problem at passport control at the airport.”
Another potential tourist from Denmark said, “I have always dreamed of visiting the US. But the rise of gun violence and political chaos has made me want to cancel all future travels to the U.S. until I can feel safe as a tourist.”
Trump’s Twitter fingers may lie, but numbers don’t.
Is Trump Scaring Away International Tourists With His Foolishness? was originally published on globalgrind.com
