The Trump Slump

Going to the U.S.?

    You may not have read the recent article found under the headline announcing that the Canadian Girl Guides were no longer traveling to the U.S. and you may not realize there are 70,000 of them along with about 20,000 guiders. There have been other recent articles about the cancellation of school trips which involve even larger numbers. Students from Toronto and Windsor will not be viewing cherry blossoms this year and the decline in visits to the United States is now being called the “Trump Slump” - an unintended, but predictable consequence of the various restrictions on travel imposed by the Trump administration.

   Many in Canada are probably not visiting because of the Canadian loonie not the American ones. School trips are being cancelled out of fear that an entire busload may be turned around because a few swarthy students are aboard. Others are opting out because of the stories of visitors now being more rigorously questioned and delayed or detained at airports.  Let’s face it: the border agent inhaling your exhaust at a bleak border crossing, seeing your sunny smile and hearing that you are going to golf on Hilton Head is hardly likely to be more welcoming these days.

  Perhaps you deprived yourself of time in the sun during March Break because you are a principled person who does not wish to support, in any way, the current regime. An article in the Toronto Star suggests that you should boycott, take a stance and not go. But, if you are still undecided about heading south you should read a recent article in Maclean’s which makes a good case that such boycotting doesn’t work.

Sources:

“Girl Guides of Canada Suspend Trips to U.S. Citing Border Concerns,” Hina Alam, Toronto Star,  March 13, 2017

“Time to Boycott Vacations to the U.S.” Mark Bulgutch, Toronto Star, Jan. 30,2017

“There’s no need to start a campaign. Just make a personal decision to avoid the United States whenever you can as long as the cruelty persists.”

“They’re Not Worth Doing, They’re Not Worth Opposing, and They Won’t Change Much,” Nick Taylor-Vaisey Maclean’s, March 10, 2017.

“Toronto Schools to Cease Field Trips to U.S.” Craig S. Smith, The New York Times, March 24, 2017.

‘Like 9/11 All Over Again’: Canadians Grow Fearful of Crossing the Border,” Catherine Porter, The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2017.

“The Trump Slump? Tourists say They're Scared to visit the United States, Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, Mar. 12, 2017,

“An economic consulting firm that has crunched the numbers from various airline and travel booking websites projects that the U.S. will lose 6.3 million visits by the end of next year, which translates into $10.8 billion in spending. What the firm, Tourism Economics of Wayne, Pa., is calling “Trump-induced losses” could affect an estimated 90,000 Americans whose jobs are directly or indirectly dependent on tourism.”

“It doesn’t take very much uncertainty or antipathy to influence decisions away from a given travel destination,” said Adam Sacks, the firm’s president. “Ultimately, destinations and companies are in the business of building a brand and a message that is welcoming .… All the ‘America first’ rhetoric in various policy areas like trade, diplomacy and immigration is conveying the exact opposite.’’

“Among the cities that stand to lose the most are New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. New York expects to lose 300,000 foreign tourists this year, a big worry because it is foreigners who drop the big money, spending about four times as much as domestic tourists, according to officials.” [these quotations are all from the Demick article cited above].