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Travel leaders from around the world reacted with cautious optimism to the first election of an industry executive to the highest office in the U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump’s unexpected victory last week found those leaders optimistically discounting much of his protectionist rhetoric as campaign bluster. They focused instead on his hospitality and gaming background, though still expressed concerns about his positions on Cuba and inbound travelers.
“Mr. Trump demonstrated throughout his campaign that travel and infrastructure issues have his attention, and we stand ready to advise his administration on achieving his stated aims in these areas,” said U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow.
“We are encouraged that Mr. Trump’s extensive business and hospitality background — not to mention that travel accounts for 10% of all U.S. exports and creates jobs in every single congressional district — will make him a ready and receptive ear for our agenda,” Dow said.
U.S. Travel is the industry’s most active lobbying arm.
The World Travel & Tourism Council extended its congratulations to Trump and said, “His background in the hospitality and leisure industry will have given him many insights into the importance of the travel and tourism sector for generating jobs and growth.”
Conspicuously absent from the post-election conversation was Brand USA, whose mission is, in large part, to enhance the image of the U.S. around the world. It did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Travel Weekly.
ASTA executives said that based on the election results, they did not foresee any change to the Society’s ability to carry out its mission.
“Trump winning the presidency is a big change and definitely surprising to a lot of people,” said Eben Peck, ASTA’s senior vice president of government and industry affairs. “But in terms of the makeup of Congress, there was actually a surprisingly low amount of turnover, considering that the theme this year was ‘throw the bums out,’ anti-incumbent, anti-Washington. There are a number of members we’ve been working with closely over the years — including contributing to their campaigns through our political action committee –who won reelection.”
Tom Jenkins, CEO of the European Tour Operators Association, was less optimistic and compared it to the vote in Great Britain to leave the European Union.
“The whole civilized world is in shock,” Jenkins said. “Rather like Brexit, this vote has no immediate impact on tourism other than the gains or losses that currency fluctuations provide. The wider implication of what this will do to the service economy, which is the foundation of tourism, is very much up for debate. We just don’t know. I think the implications of this vote are far more significant than what people are going to do on their holiday.”
‘Time to put the campaign behind us’
Despite his being the first hotelier ever to run for president, rather than embrace Trump during the campaign season, hotel executives from Marriott International to Hilton Worldwide to Loews Hotels denounced the protectionist rhetoric of his campaign as a threat to travel and tourism.
While those executives were mum last week, Katherine Lugar, CEO of the trade group American Hotel & Lodging Association, congratulated Trump and said she looked forward to working with him and other government officials “to advocate for policies that boost the economy, support entrepreneurship and business growth and promote travel and tourism across the United States. As we all take stock of the results today, it’s now time to put the campaign behind us and move forward together as a nation and focus on the business of governing.”
Deepak Ohri, CEO of Thailand-based Lebua Hotels, predicted that the election of one of its own would be good for tourism.
“You have somebody who understands how people travel, how difficult it is to bring people to a certain country and to fill up the hotels, because he is in that business,” Ohri said. “How the industry as a whole takes advantage of that is to be seen.”
Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald said Trump’s business background gave him the potential to be good for the cruise industry.
“On the surface, president Trump will be pro-business,” Donald said at Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld event in Fort Lauderdale last week. “At the same time, I hope he does the right thing internationally. People have to be able to travel, and the sea lanes have to be open, and people have to be welcoming to guests wherever they come from all around the world. We’re a mobile business. Most of our business is outside the U.S., so hopefully he’ll do all the things that are necessary to bring the world together.”
A threat to Cuba tourism
As for Trump’s October tweet that he would “reverse Obama’s executive orders and concessions toward Cuba until freedoms are restored,” Donald said he was “cautiously optimistic,” and ASTA specifically cited concerns that Trump might roll back steps to normalize relations with the U.S.’s communist neighbor.
“We’ve got a growing number of members participating in the Cuba travel market, and how quickly he moves on this, whether he moves on this at all, it’s really impossible to say,” Peck said.
Meanwhile, Cuba experts said it was too soon to know if his statement was anything more than campaign rhetoric.
William LeoGrande, an American University professor who has written extensively on U.S.-Cuba relations, said, “Trump has been careful not to spell out a Cuba policy in detail, saying simply that Obama did not make a strong enough deal with Cuba and he would negotiate a better one. He also said he wants to confer with Cuban-Americans before deciding on a policy. This suggests that Trump is open to continuing a diplomatic dialogue with Cuba, at least on issues that serve U.S. interests. But it is too early to tell which of these two positions will prevail: a return to the cold war policy of hostility or a policy of diplomatic dialogue.”
Tom Popper, president of Insight Cuba, was optimistic, calling Trump’s campaign promises “a perennial election-year necessity when addressing south Florida for any Republican presidential candidate.”
Popper added: “The growth in U.S. tourism to Cuba has had a positive effect on the U.S. travel industry, including travel agents, tour operators and other providers of service. The president-elect’s previous indication that he favored engagement in Cuba would indicate that any significant change is unlikely.”
Greg Geronemus, co-CEO of New York-based SmarTours, was less optimistic.
“I’m hopeful that president-elect Trump will do the right thing,” Geronemus said. “But I’ll also add, if you really want to go to Cuba, go soon.”
Another position that puts Trump at odds with much of the industry is his call to eliminate the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows vetted citizens of member countries to enter the U.S. without a visa for 90 days or less. Trump told Fox News in March, “It’s time to stop that, absolutely,” although he has also expressed support for including Poland in the VWP, which would amount to an expansion of the program.
Jonathan Grella, U.S. Travel’s executive vice president for public affairs, said, “Sound bites from the campaign trail have a way of feeling different once in office. We look forward to ongoing dialogue with the administration.”
Sourse: travelweekly.com
