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Tourism

President-Elect Trump's Bombast Could Already Be Impacting U.S. Inbound Travel

Andrew Sheivachman

Photo Credit: After a strong few years, Brand USA is starting to see its international travel intent metrics slip back down to 2013 levels. Here, a group of tourists hang out in downtown Chicago. Flickr / Jonathan

Skift Take

Travelers from both Mexico and Germany are beginning to rethink potential travel to the U.S. after last month's election, according to Brand USA officials. The xenophobic tenor of the new administration is creating a global image problem for the U.S. as a travel destination.

What can help turn inbound travel headwinds into a potential perfect storm for the U.S. travel industry? A combination of high currency values, an unstable political situation, and a constant barrage of bad news coming out of the U.S., according to Brand USA. Several of the destination marketing organization's internal metrics for travel intent are showing signs of weakness, causing the group to revise its forecasts, said its leadership in a board of directors meeting last week. Brand USA's measurement of intent to travel to the U.S. grew only one percent from 2015 to 2016, to 60 percent, and missed its stated annual goal of 67 percent by a large margin. "We're [acting] in a p

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