President Donald Trump's continued pursuit of a travel ban on people from predominately Muslim countries is not so good for the tourism industry.
Now is an ideal time for Americans to get out and explore their country -- because the economy could really use it.
According to Bloomberg, Trump's immigration stances have already started to deter foreign visitors from coming to the US, which could lead to the loss of billions of dollars and jobs.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) estimates President Trump cost the US travel industry $185 million in lost revenue in the week that followed his initial travel ban.
Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which analyzes data to predict and measure travel activity for clients in government and private industry, told Bloomberg,
It's the president's 'America First' rhetoric, the trade protectionism, the Mexican wall.
International visitors contributed roughly $250 billion to the US economy last year.
In 2017, however, America can expect 4.3 million fewer foreign visitors because of Trump, which means a loss of $7.4 billon.
People are referring to this as the "Trump Slump."
Major US cities are poised to lose a lot of money from tourism thanks to Trump.
New York City, which is the most visited city in the US by people overseas, expects 300,000 fewer foreign visitors this year than in 2016, when 12.7 million overseas visitors came. This will lead to a loss of at least $600 million in sales to businesses that cater to tourists, The New York Times reports.
Meanwhile, Lost Angeles could lose 800,000 international visitors and $736 million over the next three years thanks to the president.
Speaking with the LA Times, Ernest Wooden Jr., president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, said, "This loss would be significant for our local businesses and families employed in the hospitality industry."
In fact, according to a February 27 report from Kayak, an online booking agent,
Brits are falling out of love with the USA in a major way. Searches for flights to key US destinations have fallen off a cliff when it comes to holidays in 2017. Searches for flights to Tampa are down 58%, Orlando is down 58%, Fort Lauderdale is down 57% and Miami is down 52% when compared to last year. To add to the woes, searches for San Diego are down 43%, Las Vegas is down 36% and Los Angeles is down 32%.
Long story short, Trump is making the US extremely unpopular around the world, and even many people from America's greatest ally don't want to visit.
Now is the perfect time for Americans to explore their country.
Americans are obviously very disconnected from one another right now.
Politically, the country is very divided. This isn't exactly a secret.
So, really, it's the perfect time for us to travel around the country and reconnect. In the process, hopefully we can help make up for some of the losses in tourism revenue from the decline in foreign visitors.
There's nothing more American than a road trip.
We've mapped out an epic America road trip for you that covers essentially every region of the country.
You can go whatever direction you want, or only do part of the route, but here are the cities on the trip.
If you're really ambitious, you could do the entire cross-country loop and tackle all of them.
New York City, New York
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Baltimore, Maryland
Washington DC
Atlanta, Georgia
Miami, Florida
New Orleans, Louisiana
Austin, Texas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
San Francisco, California
Portland, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Denver, Colorado
Chicago, Illinois
Detroit, Michigan
Cleveland, Ohio
Boston, Massachusetts
Citations: Trump's Travel Ban Threatens to Deter Foreign Tourists From U.S. (Bloomberg)
