(Newswire.net — February 20, 2017) —President Trump’s controversial travel ban was in effect for only a week, but the global tourism industry is already beginning to notice the unwanted financial consequences.
Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and founder of Atmosphere Research Group, said for the Voice of America that people start planning their summer holidays 90 days or more in advance, but if the U. S. look less attractive to tourists, with the fact that the dollar is currently strong, it makes the United States less appealing as a possible destination.
According to the travel data company, Forward Keys, net airline bookings to the U.S. dropped 6.5 percent overall from the same period in 2016. Regionally, there was a 37.5 percent drop across the Middle East, 14 percent in the Asia Pacific region, and 13.6 percent in Western Europe.
Also, the Global Business Travel Association (GPTA) noted, in one week, an immediate loss of $185 million in business travel bookings. Also, according to the GPTA, for every 1 percent impact on annual U.S. business travel spending, the country either gains or loses $5 billion in gross domestic product along with 71,000 jobs.
Trump’s executive order, which he called a national security measure to prevent attacks by Islamic extremists, tried to ban the entry of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Syria for 90 days, and also the entry of refugees from Syria for an indefinite period.
Enforcement of Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries has been suspended since a federal district judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order against it.
Also, several American associations for the protection of civil rights, including the influential American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) submitted a lawsuit against the U.S. president for his controversial travel ban.
But, Trump has announced that he is thinking about a new executive order to ban citizens from certain countries from entering the United States, but he did not specify what kind of travel ban it might be.
