Johanna Jainchill
Recently, a travel advisor suggested to me that our publication should avoid political issues "that very few of us can do anything about."
It was in response to something I'd written about Trump administration actions that I suggested had contributed to the decline in international inbound travel to the U.S.
The reader also said this publication should be "apolitical" and focus on providing "useful" industry information.
With total respect for this reader -- and we did end up having a cordial and productive follow-up conversation by phone -- it is my opinion that issues that lead to a reduction in travel are not only useful to our readers but an obligation for us to report, regardless of which party is in power.
For one, it's important to know what members of the industry can do about it. ASTA wants advisors to know how pending legislation and regulations can affect the industry, and its website shares ways they can reach out to lawmakers and make their voices heard.
Many of those bills are not exactly political hot potatoes, like the Flight Refund Fairness Act, which is among ASTA's top legislative priorities. But when CEO Zane Kerby sent a letter just over a year ago to the then-incoming Trump administration, he implored it to not reinstate another "travel ban," saying, "Any restrictions on travel to, from or within the United States would create tremendous uncertainty in an industry that is highly vulnerable and reactive to uncertainty."
I believe Travel Weekly should also highlight issues and policies that negatively impact travel, even those that may have divisive political undertones.
I agree with the reader that our position should be nonpartisan. And I think we, and the associations that represent travel, have done a good job of trying to hold all administrations to task.
Many will recall when former President Obama in 2009 told companies that accepted bailout money during the Great Recession that they could not use those funds to "take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
The rebuke from industry leaders in Las Vegas and beyond was swift. Roger Dow, then the CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, made it his mission to educate the president on the importance of travel to the U.S. economy.
It worked. In 2010, Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act, creating Brand USA, a public-private tourism marketing organization. In 2012, he stood on stage at Walt Disney World and promised a new national tourism strategy and streamlined visa processing, by executive order. He did both.
Fast forward 10 years, to when Obama's former vice president, Joe Biden, was president. He didn't seem to have the same understanding of travel's importance, and I wrote a cover story headlined, "Is the government failing travel?"
It was the end of 2023, and Congress had not reauthorized the FAA, which provides funding for the aviation system and had been kept afloat with short-term extensions for almost a year. The much-hyped assistant secretary of tourism role, approved in 2022 as the highest tourism office in history, remained unfunded and unfilled (and remains so today), and average visa wait times topped 400 days in some key U.S. visitor markets, such as Brazil and India.
U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman said then that the federal government was "failing U.S. travelers." On many points, I agreed.
And I think it's doing the same under Trump, albeit in different ways. As Freeman's organization points out, the current government is making major investments in the FAA, which will be a boost to the industry for years to come. But President Trump's rhetoric and policies are alienating and deterring would-be visitors.
A year after we started seeing the first impacts from Canadians opting to not visit the U.S., things have not improved, and recent headlines in this publication indicate that won't be changing anytime soon.
Among those headlines: "Trump threatens Canada with 50% tariff on aircraft sold in the U.S." and "Ex-FIFA president joins those calling for boycott of World Cup in U.S."
It won't help that the ICE raids and protests in Minneapolis have inspired several European nations, including France, Ireland, Germany and Finland, to issue travel advisories about the Twin Cities.
On top of all of that, the decimation of Brand USA's federal budget means the very people charged with helping to promote the U.S. and send a much-needed welcoming message to potential visitors abroad are hampered from doing that.
So I do believe the government is, once again, failing the travel industry. And I also believe that it is useful for our readers to know that, and potentially, to do something about it.