No longer getting international guests

A year or two ago we regularly hosted guests from foreign countries: Brazil, China, India, Russia, France, England, Argentina and more. We really enjoyed these guests and the interactions we had with them. Then all of a sudden, our only bookings come from the US, particularly from nearby states. They’re usually nice people, but the experience has become way less interesting. I suspect it may be due to Trump’s election and foreign guests being less interested in coming to the US, but I wouldn’t think the drop off would be so dramatic. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this change.

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Yes, I’m experiencing the same thing. Midwesterners have always been my bread & butter, but I used to get several international bookings per year.

Since the election, none.

It’s a bummer, as I really enjoyed my guests from Brazil, France, Germany, etc. :frowning:

Yes, it’s called the Trump effect :slight_smile: Lots of research by the travel industry on this.

None of my family and friends are planning to travel to the U.S. any more and some have been affected by the travel ban introduced by Trump so couldn’t travel there even if the wanted to.

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Sadly it cuts both ways. When he comes to visit the Queen in the Summer, ‘Together Against Trump’ will be a part of the hosting lol

Yep the Trump effect. Previous years we had LOTS of European guests. This year, zero. Can say as I blame them, we look pretty crappy to the world in the last year…

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Yes, I’ve noticed it too. The only international guests I’ve had since Dec were here from Italy for a trade convention. No international tourists on my entire calendar for 2018.

Yet I have increasing numbers of foreigners visiting in the UK, especially European. I think it’s the Brexit Effect, with people trying to visit before we shut them out, or more pertinently, before we shut ourselves in.

Ken, I think we look just as stupid. The trouble is, you can get rid of Trump and hopefully repair the damage. Brexit will be lasting, however hard or soft; both cock-ups have left us all with dreadful social cohesion issues, so at least we share that. Sadly.

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also, the pound is a bit knackered, so England is getting a lot of foreign visitors, but we lose a lot of value in our holiday money when we go abroad, ie to mainland Europe or USA

The damage of what, Trump 1) undoing Obama’s massive damage to our constitutional republic? 2) And unshackling the economy to reach its fuller potential?

Anyway, as to the O.P.'s question –

My international guests are holding steady, especially from Asia and Latin America. The strong dollar must be deterring European guests.

Some big-picture articles, this first describes what I’ve observed, Asian inbound travel remains strong (2016, most recent I could find), and that the downturn in U.S. inbound tourism started during the Obama administration:

U.S. Travel Association: FACT SHEET: INTERNATIONAL INBOUND TRAVEL TO THE U.S. (2016)

The largest growing inbound market, Asia, has, and is projected to continue to increase its share (from 24 percent in 2008 to a projected 34 percent in 2020).

Business travel to the U.S. began to decline in the Obama administration (2015 > 2016)

International Travel to the U.S. Declines as the Dollar Grows Stronger

An interesting wrinkle in the data shows that business travel decreased in December 2015, year-over-year, with stagnant growth expected for the first half of 2016.

Top Trends in the U.S. Inbound Tour and Travel Industry in 2018

While it is true that a harsh feeling toward the new president has correlated with a decline in demand for USA product in some key country markets, it does not seem to have had any impact on the major growth markets of Asia.

New Visit U.S. Coalition Aims to Reverse Decline in Inbound International Visitors

The Trump administration cannot be blamed for the decline, said Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO. "The fact is, this administration inherited the downward trajectory." Factors such as a very strong U.S. dollar, weak economies in some other nations and a proliferation of low-cost airlines in Europe are contributing factors, he said. …

I found that this started early in 2017. I had very few guests from anywhere other than the USA last year. This year is relatively back to normal though. I’ve had guests from England, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Serbia, Brazil, Scotland - and I have quite a few people from other countries booked for the future.

Much as you may love Trump and his politics, it would be a little naive for you to deny the impact he has had on inbound U,S, tourism. Of course the strong US dollar has had an impact, as has the U.S.'s refusal to tackle increasing gun crimes, but others you cite; such as Europe having low cost airlines is a red herring. We have had those for over twenty years.

Even the articles you quote acknowledge this and one of the articles you quote is talking about tourism in 2016, when he only came into power at the tail end of that year !

Clearly the damage @Joan was talking about relates to your tourism industry, and the perception/reality that visitors of certain religions or from certain countries are not welcome in the U.S.

Glad to hear you are still receiving visitors from European countries, Canada and Brazil @jaquo.

I think the reality is though that less visitors from Europe are visiting the U.S. There will always be those who don’t have an interest in politics and won’t care, such as those going to Florida, but I have heard many US hosts report that visitors from overseas have dried up completely or certainly numbers have fallen.

However, I think the biggest impact is probably going to be from Arabic countries, the Far East (outside of China), Mexico etc where visitors feel less welcome in the U.S.

I think you’re correct. I’ve no idea why but our guests from other countries tend to be European. (Using Europe as shorthand for ‘the other side of the pond’). As I said above, it affected me last year but this year seems to be back to normal. Of course, it could be that we get European guests because although we are in the USA we are British? This means that we have European essentials such as an electric kettle, a teapot and a duvet with no top sheet! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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Thank God for no top sheet :slight_smile: :smile: :blush: @jaquo

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Several relatives in China have made comments to me regarding mass shootings and general safety when considering travel to the US. It appears that the US is not a safe place.

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I live there.

I agree.

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For people saying it’s all due to the “Trump Effect” I also don’t think the publicity around mass shootings helps either. Statistically the chance of a visitor for 2 weeks being shot is minuscule, I’ve been regularly travelling to the US for 30 years, and lived there twice, and I’ve never even seen a gun except on a policeman, or even heard a shot fired. I don’t think Americans realise how much news about their country that people in the rest of the world receive. Almost every night there is something on the tv news about Trump and US shootings make the front page and nightly news bulletins in a way shootings in other countries usually don’t. Crikey we often get a Trump related rundown on what was on SNL and it isn’t even shown here (or funny for that matter)! There is even a rather good local weekly program on ABC called “Planet America” about US politics. I must admit though I find US politics more interesting than Australian politics but wouldn’t want it to be mine.

Do you share your views with your foreign guests? My experience in America is that when you travel and meet new people avoid talking about politics, religion and race, and they will too. Fortunately you can usually talk about some place of local natural beauty or infamous, but distant, history. Unlike England where chit chat is usually exclusively about the weather.

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One thing people like when planning travel is stability. If Trump is anything he is mercurial.

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Joan I feel compelled to reply on Brexit as yours is a very mis leading and one sided perspective. I will not get into an arguement with you as I suspect it would be futile but I will make two points: 1) the UK is leaving the EU, (an institution of which even ardent supporters accept there is a democratic deficit) not Europe; 2) I am willing to denote a sum to a charity of your choosing if Europeans stop visiting the UK when we leave the EU in March 2019, so let’s examine the visting numbers in 2020 a year after exit.