The United States hosted fewer international visitors in the first few months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to new data.
Nearly 700,000 fewer travelers came to the U.S. in first three months of the year than last year, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Travel and Tourism Office and reported by the New York Times. In total, 15.8 million international travelers came to the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, compared with 16.5 million in 2016. The 4.2 percent drop continues a steady decline of international visitors that began in mid-2016, according to data.
Visits from Europe in January, February and March fell by more than 10 percent while visits to the U.S. from neighboring Mexico dropped 7 percent. The U.S. saw a large drop in travelers from the Middle East and Africa compared to the first three months last year, falling 25.2 percent and 22.8 percent respectively.
While the exact reason for the decline is impossible to pinpoint, industry leaders say it is most likely due to a combination of issues, including economic policy and the political atmosphere following the November election of President Donald Trump.
Positive April numbers, buoyed largely by a 14.8 percent increase in visits from Canada, relax the overall decline to 1.2 percent compared with the first four months of last year, but industry leaders say the April bump was likely due to the Easter holiday. More-recent data f are not yet available.
International visits to the U.S. are projected to continue to decline through 2017, according the U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trend Index. The index, produced in conjunction with Tourism Economics, an offshoot of Oxford Economics, uses data from the National Travel and Tourism Office as well as consumer metrics from private companies.
The number of visits to the U.S. from Mexico was steadily increasing in 2016 compared to 2015, but then fell sharply in November after Trump won the presidential election. International visits from Africa, the Middle East and South America are similarly down.
Negative rhetoric about these regions from Trump and his administration, combined with policies such as the executive order banning travelers from several Muslim-majority countries, may be driving international visits down, says Michael McCormick, executive director and chief operating officer of the Global Business Travel Association.
In an internal poll conducted in March, the Global Business Travel Association found that 45 percent of European travel professionals were less likely to plan future business travel to the U.S. after Trump’s executive order on travel, according to a statement from the company.
Business travel to the U.S. from international companies fell 9 percent in 2016, according to data from the National Travel and Tourism Office. McCormick says he believes the U.S .will continue to see a decline in business travel through 2017 as companies have other options when booking events, meetings and group travel.
The strength of the U.S. dollar in 2016 may have also turned some international visitors away, says David Huether, senior vice president of research at the U.S. Travel Association. As the cost of consumer goods rose, the U.S. became a more expensive choice for travelers, he says.
The economic impact of the decline in international visits could be significant, Huether says.
“I think we’re going to see the U.S. lose market share [in international travel],” Huether says. “It lost some market share last year and it’s going to lose market share this year. The impact of that is there’s going to be a lost opportunity for job creation.”
Tourism Economics estimated that the first-quarter dip in visits from international travelers resulted in a $2.7 billion loss in spending, as reported by the New York Times.
The National Travel and Tourism Office reported an increase in spending from international visitors in the first half of 2017 as compared with the last months of 2016, but McCormick says that an increase in consumer prices may have created a “false positive” effect that doesn’t align with the impact of the decline in visits.
“If you don’t have that ability to and feeling that people want to come to the U.S. as a destination to do business or for leisure, you’re really undermining critical element of our overall economic growth and health,” McCormick says.
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International Visits to U.S. Fell in First Months of 2017 originally appeared on usnews.com
