Sharp fall in UK travelers to the US
Tuesday, 24 Mar, 2017
0
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a sharp drop in the number of UK travelers to North America in January, the month when Donald Trump became President.
While the overall number of Brits going overseas jumped 9% to 4.6 million in January, the number going to the US fell 17%.
The figures reflect fears that Trump’s election win would damage US tourism.
A Travelzoo poll undertaken before Trump’s victory found 31% said they would reconsider travel to the US following a Trump win, while 20% said they would definitely not go on vacation there.
The ONS said part of the drop could be explained by January 2016 being a particularly strong month for outbound trips to the US, but said there was still a significant drop.
The UK pound had also weakened against the dollar following the Brexit vote.
Based on previous years, the ONS said it would expect to see a rise in visitors to the US in January compared with December, but this year was an exception.
While 250,000 Brits traveled to the US in December, the figure fell to 230,000 in January.
In comparison, 276,000 traveled to North America in January 2016, either for business, leisure or family trips.
While travel to the US dropped, visits to Europe rose 12% and visits to other countries were up by 8% compared to January 2016.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive