Back
in 2016 we released a free
white paper that extensively profiled the US outbound traveller and looked at
the state of the market. We noted that there was a distinct possibility
that the number of outbound journeys in the year could reach our upper forecast
range of 8-9%. Well I am pleased to say that it seems to have very much gone
that way with journeys growing by 8% over the first 11 months
of 2016 according to the most recently available figures from the US National
Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) at the time of writing.
However, is 2017 looking just as rosy? We might have to
temper our expectations somewhat, as the Trump presidency has seen a reverse in
the dollar’s recent gains against a basket of currencies, inflation has
increased and his bellicose rhetoric might make many destinations less
favourable in their view of US citizens. For example, Mexico is comfortably the
number one destination for US tourists but talk of the border wall isn’t
exactly going down well there. This isn’t even to mention the travel ban, which
is already affecting travel plans. One of the few certainties we can have for
US tourism in 2017 is that the outlook is going to be a lot harder to predict
than 2016.
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