Skift Take
The Trump slump is not only real; it's worse than anticipated. The much-coveted Chinese travelers, for instance, are looking to travel elsewhere for now.
U.S. travel companies are working to stay ahead of the competition with innovations like artificial intelligence, the sharing economy, and blockchain. Some brands and destinations, however, are struggling with a challenge that could derail the whole sector — getting international travelers to visit the United States in the age of President Donald Trump.
International arrivals to the U.S. dropped 3.9 percent during the first six months of 2017, compared to the year-earlier period, according to data released this week by the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office and U.S. Department of Commerce.
The decline includes a 5.7 percent reduction in overseas arrivals (excluding Canada and Mexico), and a huge decrease of 9.4 percent from Mexico.
The largest regional drops were from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, respectively.
This slump began in late 2016 — the first year that notched fewer international arrivals than the previous year since before the global recession of 2008 — and continued into the early months of 2017.
It coincides with the election of President Trump in November 2016, al
