As the world awaits the impact of Donald Trump’s return to the White House in a second term as US president, he was urged to make the country “the world’s top travel destination”.
The call came from US Travel Association chief executive Geoff Freeman in the wake of Trump’s landslide victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
However, a new Republican administration from the new year could see a return to tighter border controls and current efforts to cut visa backlogs deprioritised.
Trump’s protectionist inclinations over foreign policy could impact inbound tourism while his apparent denial of climate change may act to undermine industry efforts to counter global warming.
During his presidential campaign, he pledged to increase production of US fossil fuels – vowing to “drill, drill, drill” on day one in favour of renewable energy sources such as wind power.
There will also be anxiety over a potential restatement of travel bans enacted as among his first actions as president in January 2017.
Question-marks will inevitably be raised over efforts by US travel trade leaders to encourage reform of the US visa process and modernisation of pre-clearance at designated foreign airports.
Members of a Commission on Seamless and Secure Travel set up by the US Travel Association met counterparts at Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh airport, British Airways, International Airlines Group and Virgin Atlantic in June to discuss ways to improve inbound passenger numbers.
The commission was created by the US Travel Association after a Euromonitor International report ranked the US 17 out of 18 major countries in terms of global travel competitiveness earlier this year.
Global travel industry bodies have yet to publicly respond to Trump’s triumph as they seek to evaluate the implications of his views on economic polices, the wars in Ukraine and Middle East, potential tariffs on foreign goods into the US and immigration.
The US Travel Association was the first to issue a statement congratulating president-elect Trump.
Freeman said the organisation looked forward to working with the incoming administration “to make the United States the world’s top travel destination and improve the travel experience for millions of Americans who take to the roads, rails and sky every day”.
He added: “As we embark on a mega-decade of sports – including the World Cup and summer and winter Olympics – a tremendous opportunity is ahead to maximise the competitive strength of the United States as a travel destination.
“We stand ready to work with the new administration to realise America’s full potential.”