Since US president Donald Trump first initiated a travel ban, the country has suffered a slowdown in international arrivals while the rest of the world pushes ahead, according to recent ForwardKeys analysis.
The decline also coincides with the strengthening of the US dollar, making the destination more expensive, ForwardKeys acknowledged.
Since January 27, there has been an overall dip of 1.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, while international arrivals in the rest of the world shows an increase of 4.6 per cent.
ForwardKeys observed that the decrease is from around the world – Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Only travel from elsewhere in the Americas, and Africa (which has a small 2.1 per cent market share of travel to the US) have shown growth.
Europe, with a 39.4 per cent market share, slumped by 2.3 per cent over the year to the end of September, while Asia-Pacific, with a 23 per cent market share, was down 3.8 per cent.
ForwardKeys co-founder and CEO, Olivier Jager said: “Our latest findings confirm what our data has been predicting since the first travel ban. There has been a Trump Slump and the strong dollar has compounded it.”
“This must be worrying for the US economy – travel is a huge earner for the US and relative to the rest of the world, its tourism exports are losing ground.”
