This historic highway came to symbolise freedom, opportunity and optimism in pursuit of the American Dream almost a century ago as desperate migrants headed west during the Great Depression, then emerged as an icon of the country’s influential culture in books, films and songs. The road embodies a spirit of carefree adventure in a nation that worshipped cars and liberty – and is loved by tourists as they sweep through bustling cities, glorious scenery and kitschy roadside stops.
“I will not set foot in America while the numpty [Donald] Trump and his acolytes are still in control,” he wrote in a letter published earlier this month. “We can all do our bit to hurt the US even if it unfortunately doesn’t just hit the ‘Make America Great Again’ crowd.”
Travel from several key countries – including Colombia, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Norway – shrank more than one-fifth. And this data does not yet include Canada and Mexico, which account for almost half of US visitors – with indications of even bigger falls from these neighbouring nations amid the toxic rhetoric spewing out of the White House.
Why, after all, would Canadians want to go on holiday to a country whose president demands they capitulate to his grotesque rule by becoming the 51st US State while insulting their own leaders? Why would Europeans want to visit a nation whose administration are betraying the fight for freedom in Ukraine, sucking up to our enemies in the Kremlin, demanding Greenland and promoting the far-right on our own continent? Why would Asians or Mexicans want to visit the land that has launched damaging trade wars against them? And why would Australians want to visit a country that just detained, deported and reportedly insulted one of its citizen with a valid visa who left his job, partner and child for a two-day trip home to scatter his sister’s ashes.
Meanwhile the Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a safety bulletin for reporters heading to the US while several European countries have had to update travel advice for transgender and non-binary citizens (given a similar reactionary shift here, however, perhaps they might soon have to do the same for Britain).
Yet bear in mind Goldman Sachs has warned that “foreign boycotts of US products… driven by a pullback in foreign tourism” could cost the country £90bn. The tourist industry supports 15 million US jobs. And for all the culture war froth, Trump’s election triumph was built on concerns over the cost of living while claiming he would make America great again.
square ADAM BOULTON
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So collective recoil from the President’s warped view of the world might just make a difference. There are, of course, many worse-governed and far more repressive nations with thriving tourism industries. But we expect better from the land of the free and the world’s most influential democracy. Besides, how else can ordinary people send a signal that even the country’s closest friends feel repulsed by Trump – especially when watching their own leaders crawl to the White House and pander to the President’s overblown ego in a desperate effort to deflect disastrous policies?
Right now, perhaps these offer more suitable tourism destinations than a country being despoiled by a malign president who is inflicting such damage to his country’s reputation. So maybe get your kicks anywhere else than Route 66.
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