His hotel experience doesn't seem to be helping.
Since Donald Trump became president, America has been a lot less hospitable. The administration openly attacks immigrants, refugees, and foreign visitors while screaming about a grandiose plan to wall off the country at the southern border. The not-so-shocking result: Fewer people want to come to America with their hard-earned tourist dollars.
In June, the Pew Research Center found that 49% of those surveyed in 37 nations had a positive view of the United States, a sharp decline from the 64% in the final years of President Obama’s presidency. “It’s not a reach to say the rhetoric and policies of this administration are affecting sentiment around the world, creating antipathy toward the U.S. and affecting travel behavior,” said Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, told The New York Times.
Photo by Jim Pennucci/Flickr.
One of the biggest declines in tourism is from the Middle East. From late 2016 to early 2017, tourism from that region is down 37.5%. European travelers, a big piece of the U.S. tourism pie, declined by 10.1% in the first quarter of 2017. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports a 4.2% decrease overall in international tourism for the first quarter of 2017, which amounts to just under 700,000 people.
So how much does this hurt the U.S. economy? Researchers from Tourism Economics told The New York Times the decline accounts for an estimated $2.7 billion loss. Should these figures hold, the U.S. could stand to lose over $10.8 billion in tourist dollars in 2017 alone. For a man who’s made considerable money in the hospitality business, President Trump has done a poor job at giving people a reason to come to the U.S. Maybe if he improved the country’s image abroad, he wouldn’t have to work so hard to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
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