Tuesday 28 March 2017

US outbound a complicated picture in 2017

Back in 2016 we released a free white paper that extensively profiled the US outbound traveller and looked at the state of the market. We noted that there was a distinct possibility that the number of outbound journeys in the year could reach our upper forecast range of 8-9%. Well I am pleased to say that it seems to have very much gone that way with journeys growing by 8% over the first 11 months of 2016 according to the most recently available figures from the US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) at the time of writing.

However, is 2017 looking just as rosy? We might have to temper our expectations somewhat, as the Trump presidency has seen a reverse in the dollar’s recent gains against a basket of currencies, inflation has increased and his bellicose rhetoric might make many destinations less favourable in their view of US citizens. For example, Mexico is comfortably the number one destination for US tourists but talk of the border wall isn’t exactly going down well there. This isn’t even to mention the travel ban, which is already affecting travel plans. One of the few certainties we can have for US tourism in 2017 is that the outlook is going to be a lot harder to predict than 2016.

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Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
alex@eyefortravel.com 

Source: EyeforTravel, U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO)