US travel ‘falls off a cliff’ according to a search site

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) reportedly estimates that the United States lost about US$185 million (AU$243 million) in business travel. Meanwhile, data from Kayak, a travel search site, showed interest in travel to the US from the United Kingdom had “fallen off a cliff” during the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Per the information obtained by Kayak, searches for flights to Tampa and Orlando had fallen 58 percent. Searches for Miami have slipped down 52 percent, found a 43 percent drop in searches for San Diego, Las Vegas by 36 percent and Los Angeles by 32 percent when compared to last year.

In Las Vegas, average prices for hotel rooms dropped by 39 percent on average, 34 percent in San Francisco and by 32 percent in New York. Flight prices for all destinations remain stable.

“We noted that searches to the US dropped after the new President came to office but it seems like this is a longer-term trend,” Suzanne Perry, a travel expert at Kayak, said per the Independent. She noted that the US has been one of the most popular countries for Brits, but there was a recent massive shift. Searches to well-known destinations have dropped by over half in a year. “It will be interesting to see if it can bounce back in 2018,” she added.

Initial communications between Trump and his counterparts from countries like Australia, Germany, Mexico and China did not go well. This had caused negative publicity in these countries where several travellers are from, Bloomberg noted.

Hopper, a flight app, found that travel demand had fallen after Trump’s travel ban was announced. It analysed flight search demand from 122 international origins to the US for weeks before and after the inauguration of Trump.

Trump's revised travel ban, which targets six Muslim-majority countries, recently got support from several states. Thirteen Republican-led states filed an amicus brief to support the POTUS’ ban as it goes to a federal appeals court. Attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia and Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi reportedly filed the brief.

However, judges in Hawaii and Maryland opted to block the travel ban. They argue that Trump's new ban might still discriminate Muslims. Meanwhile, a ruling in Virginia approved the ban and it is likely to set up a showdown in the Supreme Court according to Aol News.