Deterring Tourism

Just on general principle, I don’t particularly want governments, particularly Trump’s-USA, inquiring into my Internet life… they are welcome to read this blog, however. There’s nothing scary there, but I resent the intrusion, even though I know experts can hack into anything. The world is increasingly distrustful of strangers, and there is a general growing disdain for all things American. Trump may well be the most hated global leader on earth, and, combined with the ramp up of mass shootings plus a reluctance to control guns, the United States is no longer the go-to destination it used to be.

“As an economic force, the American tourism industry has few equals. According to U.S Travel Association, one in nine jobs feeds off it. Aviation workers, shop owners, tour guides, hotel staff, taxi drivers, restaurant employees, and bartenders — along with so many other middle-class professions — need a robust tourism industry to survive.

“So when a successful hotel owner became 45th president of the United States, this sector seemed poised for growth. Instead, President Donald Trump issued a travel ban and started tweeting hostile messages to nations around the globe. Not surprisingly, foreign tourists responded by taking their vacations elsewhere. In total, forecasters at Tourism Economics estimated the industry lost $2.7 billion in the months after Trump took office.

“Economic data proved the new president’s first year in office was dreadful for the industry, with $32 billion in revenue and 40,000 jobs lost. In short, the predicted Trump tourism slump became reality.” CheatSheet.com, 6/8/18. Tourism is still falling – by an estimated 4% per year – and since the trade war with China, to no surprise, numbers of travelers from the Peoples’ Republic has fallen 5.7%.

“China issued a travel warning for the United States on Tuesday [6/4], saying Chinese visitors have been interrogated, interviewed and subjected to other forms of what it called harassment by U.S. law enforcement agencies… The warning — the latest salvo in a trade battle that appears to be escalating by the day — threatens to further hurt some U.S. luxury goods makers, which depend on deep-pocketed foreigners for a not-insignificant part of their sales.

“It urges Chinese citizens and Chinese-funded bodies in the U.S. to step up their safety awareness and preventive measures and respond ‘appropriately and actively.’ It was issued by the foreign ministry, the Chinese Embassy and consulates in the United States…The warning comes amid an increasingly bitter trade dispute between Beijing and Washington and tougher immigration enforcement by the Trump administration.

“China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued its own travel alert for the U.S. on Tuesday, citing recent ‘frequent’ shootings, robbery and theft, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday. It didn’t provide any statistics or further details. Chinese students abroad were urged Monday to assess the risks involved given tightened visa restrictions.” Los Angeles Times, June 5^th. 

But potential international visitors from almost anywhere also face restrictions imposed by the U.S. government. Travelers desiring to enter the United States from countries where visas are required “will now be required to submit [their] social media information to the US government as a part of the necessary information in [their] visa forms. This new requirement was introduced on May 31, 2019, for most visa applicants, including temporary visitors. This requirement has been put in place per an order to put extreme vetting into place for visitors to the USA, which was set in motion via an Executive order in 2017.

 

“Applicants will be required to list their social media identifiers, in a drop-down menu format, along with other information needed for the visa. One will need to provide all Social Media accounts used over the past five years.  They can also choose to say they don’t use Social Media, but as per The Hill, who talked to some officials in the US State Department, said that if the visa applicant lies about the social media use, they could face serious immigration consequences.

 

“In addition to social media histories, visa applicants are also going to be required to submit five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses, international travel and deportation status, as well as a declaration if any family members have been involved in terrorist activities. Only applicants for certain diplomatic and official visa types are exempted from the requirements…

“There is no getting around the fact that to access the USA, you will now have to provide more information than you would be comfortable with earlier. This might also set off a trend where other governments would even start imposing such requirements and social media might begin to become patrol media rather than just fun.” BoardingArea.com, June 1^st, which posted the above picture. I wonder how negative criticisms of Donald Trump impact a visa application. For a determined terrorist, getting into Canada is pretty easy, and crossing into the United States from Canada a snap. So this has to be part of Trump’s catering to his xenophobic white Christian base… but this hostility to foreigners kicks most of the rest of us in the wallet.

We are already filtering out the best and the brightest foreign engineers, scientists, tech experts and mathematicians, hobbling our fabled Silicon Valley (and its ilk all over the country) just when we need to be more competitive. China’s patent filings are rising, just as ours are falling. See my Canada’s Big Smile at U.S. Immigration Policies blog. Cities like Las Vegas and Orlando, rather dramatically built on tourism are hurting, but so is just about every big city in the nation, from New York and Washington, D.C. to San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

They say the country will vote “the economy” in 2020, and computer models predict that if the numbers stay as they are, Trump will coast to an easy victory and assume his second term. But those numbers are based on averages, and while many in Trump’s base are content to view that as success, that virtually all of the gains have gone to the wealthiest in the land needs to be addressed. That distorts “averages.” Feel the insecurity yet? When is the time for “most of us”?

              I’m Peter Dekom, and we are reshaping the world into a planet that we really are not going to enjoy living in.