The US tourism industry may be badly hit in the period ahead, if Trump Administration’s travel ban on some countries deters tourists from elsewhere.
A rising dollar will create a double whammy situation for the US tourism sector, which employs millions of people. In its just released report, the US Department of Commerce said the country has already seen a more than 2% drop in tourist arrivals in August 2016, compared to a year earlier. This translates into 8mn tourists.  
The drop may be significantly higher this year, if the general mood following President Donald Trump’s recent revised executive order banning citizens from six nations, is anything to go by.
New York City was expecting foreign tourist numbers to remain unchanged at 12.7mn, but now has cut its forecast for 2017 by 300,000.
A survey by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) indicated business travel, an important source of income for hotels and airlines, could suffer due to the ban.
Some 37% of US business travel professionals said they expect a reduction in their company’s travel because of Trump’s revised executive order, while 17% of European travel professionals said their company has already cancelled business travel to the US.
Last week President Trump revised an executive order banning citizens from six nations - Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Libya - from travelling to the US. It is however, true that those countries account for a tiny percentage of the US visitors, but there is growing concern that the order could hurt the image of the United States and scare other tourists away.
The dollar has gained more than 5% against the euro and appreciated significantly against some major currencies over the past six months, making it more expensive for travellers to visit the US.
According to ‘SelectUSA’, the US government-wide programme established to facilitate business investment in the US, the nation’s travel and tourism industry generated nearly $1.6tn in economic output in 2015, supporting 7.6mn American jobs.
Travel and tourism exports accounted for 11% of all US exports and nearly a third (33%) of all services’ exports, positioning travel and tourism as the nation’s largest services export. One out of every 18 Americans is employed, either directly or indirectly, in a travel or tourism-related industry.
The US Department of Commerce’s projection shows that international travel to the United States should grow by 3% annually through 2021.
That said, many experts caution the US travel ban on some nations sends confusing signals to prospective tourists to the US.
A vast majority of tourists to any country, obeys rules and regulations, and contributes significantly to the travel sector in particular and the local economy in general.
It is unfair and unrealistic to assume that all tourists pose a threat to national security, although securing borders is every nation’s right. But the fact remains the chances of collateral damage to economies borne out of certain policies are far greater in this increasingly inter-connected world.

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