The Advantage Travel Partnership’s Kelly Cookes reflects on transatlantic sales and gauges opinion in Orlando
Whether or not US president Donald Trump’s rhetoric will affect inbound US tourism demand is a hot topic in the industry at the moment.
During my recent visit to Orlando hosted by Gold Medal, I wanted to find out how that’s playing out on the ground and how concerned we really need to be.
Orlando, perhaps unsurprisingly as my visit was over Spring Break, was busy with a mix of domestic and international travellers.
But my conversations with Americans revealed a reluctance to discuss politics due to its polarising nature, with some even mentioning having experienced strained relationships over differing political views.
The Trump presidency is clearly a divisive topic in the US but whether or not that political tension is deterring UK visitors is more of a complex picture.
From my conversations with members, supplier partners and tourist boards it seems that UK travellers are not cancelling or delaying trips to the US.
We are viewed as a non-political market so are expected to continue visiting.
This contrasts with other markets such as the Nordics where tour operators have actively stopped marketing the US, after Trump started talking about Greenland.
We are seeing members start to pull back on promoting the US in some cases, but this is due to posts getting hijacked by anti-Trump comments rather than a lack of interest from consumers.
While the political situation is a concern, the main deterrent for travellers is the rising costs associated with traveling to the US.
Factors such as the weakened exchange rate, increased tipping expectations which has gone up by as much as 5%, and additional charges on bills such as ‘staff pension contribution’ are contributing to the perception of the US as a more expensive holiday destination.
Despite these challenges, the US remains a top-selling long-haul destination for UK travellers.
In terms of Advantage sales, the US continues to be our top long-haul destination overall with the top three sellers being New York, Orlando and Las Vegas.
Looking at Orlando specifically, it is flying, largely due to the new Universal Park opening in May.
The US is an incredibly diverse destination that caters to various traveller preferences from the sunny beaches and theme parks of Florida, to living the city life in LA or New York right through to natural wonders like Yellowstone.
There’s a host of iconic must-see attractions that are on many peoples bucket lists: the Hollywood sign, Welcome to Las Vegas sign and the Grand Canyon, not to mention the immense opportunities for road trips, and the longstanding appeal of attending major sporting events such as the Superbowl and the US Open.
We have seen good growth in Miami and Seattle which is being driven by our increased focus on cruise.
Nashville also stands out as having had a strong start to the year, especially over the last couple of weeks which could link into the growing trend of music tourism with the Country to Country festival having taken place in the UK (March 7-9). New Orleans is also selling well.
From what I can see, the biggest concern is not actually the political situation but cost.
With the weakened exchange rate, the US now appears to be coming onto cost parity with similar destinations that have always been regarded as more expensive places to visit.
If you look at this in the context of what we are seeing in terms of the popularity of all-inclusive and value for money, then the US is starting to become a more expensive holiday but one that I believe will continue to appeal to the UK market.