05-01 American Issues

It was at the second International Symposium on Small Business held in Washington DC, that the Chairman made an announcement asking delegates to not leave their hotels at night because of issues of personal safety. It was a huge shock. If was just a year ago that the Symposium was held in Tokyo, where they told us it was safe even for women to walk around the city on their own day or night.
Over the next 20 years, the only other conference that warned delegates about their safety was in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1989.
Countries vied to hold these international forums because of all the tourist spending. And all 600 Washington conference delegates, (and there were over 300 from outside the US), were planning to do a little holidaying. Heading to New York to take in Times Square and Central Park was a favourite destination. In a good year, New York will attract 40 million visitors.
While in Washington some wanted to see the White House, the Washington Monument, the US Capital and Capital Hill, but the most talked about attraction was the Lincoln Memorial. And it is not a surprise that about 30 million people a year visit Washington, DC.
The big US tourism story is related to the election of President Trump. Since the introduction of his first travel and immigration ban, travel to the US has been in decline. To be fair, it is hard to be precise and blame it all on his “America First” rhetoric. The strong US dollar certainly reduces Canadian travel to the US, but the annual US tourism numbers are in the order of $4.5 billion in lost economic activity and 40,000 lost jobs.
What I have learned over the years is that any shock that changes tourism spending patterns can hurt for several years. It can be weather, bad service, a robbery or whatever. I was at an international small business conference in Stockholm just a week after the two planes drove into the office towers in New York in 2001. It was no surprise that none of the US delegation was present. Well, travel to and from the US that year took a big hit and did not recover to normal levels for five years.
This explains why there is a fear in US tourism circles that President Trump's impact on travel to the US will be even more severe than that of September 11, 2001.
Travel patterns are not to be ignored. Tourists will keep coming back to places they love and after a bad experience, will never come back. When my wife and I travelled to Maui in the late 1990s, we came back for ten years. And people love going to Las Vegas and often come back on a yearly basis. Those places get better every year. Can you believe that about 30 million visitors head for Los Vegas each year?
Keeping tourists returning requires improving your offering just like any other business. Competition for the tourist dollar is wicked.
What they call "snowbirds", Canadians escaping the cold winters now have Mexico as an alternative to the US. It is more than good hotels, good restaurants, good flights and good service. It is about good value. Tourist dollars, unlike investing in high tech industries, provides jobs and income for people of all skill levels. Like a rising tide, tourism “raises all boats”.
My favourite US destination is the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona, something shaped over the centuries by the Colorado River. I have not seen anything like it anywhere in the world.
What is so interesting about the US is the differences in culture comparing say, Texas with New York, or Boston with Florida. The tourist experience can be so different travelling through the US, not just for foreigners but for Americans.
My wife and I have visited over 40 nations and taken over 30 cruises. We love travelling to the US. But the US as a tourist designation has declined from second to the third spot in the world. The US is now ranked behind both France and Spain. I love the charm and culture of these European nations, but no one can beat the service culture of America.
So, we were told not to walk around Washington at night in 1976. Well, I would not walk around Toronto at night in 2018. And, now that my wife and I are seriously old, we cruise. No one picks your pocket on a cruise ship.