US Tourism Suffers 8.2% Decline 209
International tourism to the United States faces an unprecedented 8.2% decline in 2025, with the World Travel and Tourism Council projecting a $12.5 billion loss in visitor spending -- the only decline among 184 economies analyzed. Canadian visitors, traditionally comprising 28% of international arrivals, have dropped by approximately 25% through July.
Seattle tour operators report 30-50% fewer Canadian customers with many explicitly citing recent tariff policies and political rhetoric as deterrents. The newly implemented $250 "visa integrity fee" for certain countries compounds existing concerns about immigration policies and National Guard deployments in major cities. Tourism Economics now projects full recovery to pre-pandemic levels won't occur until 2029, three years later than initially forecast.
Seattle tour operators report 30-50% fewer Canadian customers with many explicitly citing recent tariff policies and political rhetoric as deterrents. The newly implemented $250 "visa integrity fee" for certain countries compounds existing concerns about immigration policies and National Guard deployments in major cities. Tourism Economics now projects full recovery to pre-pandemic levels won't occur until 2029, three years later than initially forecast.
no surprises there. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Insightful)
it's not even that - all things being equal, I'd still go to the US despite not agreeing with the political climate there. It's a big country with lots of amazing stuff to see.
What I hear people really worrying about is the draconian powers that TSA/immigration seem to have acquired, and truly mindbending stories like this [rnz.co.nz] or this [usatoday.com].
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Interesting)
My wife refuses to go to the US while the current anti-women stance exists in healthcare provision over there - imagine being refused medical treatment because that treatment might affect an unborn child, despite the fact that shes not pregnant. The mere fact that she is of child bearing age is enough for some states medical professionals to refuse certain types of life saving treatments, simply because it may induce an abortion.
So while we were planning on visiting next year for AdeptiCon and then do some touring, thats now completely off our radar.
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/sarc
... if only.
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Texas will get there first. State courts will be used only to declare the winner in a gun battle.
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Women are dying in many US states as a direct result of abortion laws.
Yes, it's currently a hot topic where I live because the local Catholic hospital (which is rapidly becoming the only game in town) refused service to a woman who was hemorrhaging and sent her on her way with a bucket. This is the future^Wpresent that Republicans want.
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Insightful)
This, so much this. It's one thing to assume that if you're from an African country with a difficult to pronounce name that you'd be targeted but for many people the USA instantly went on the "no" list when it became clear they were detaining, imprisoning, and deporting ordinary normal white European folk / Australian and NZ folk who were there on holiday.
The world is big, why take the risk with a country that demonstrably doesn't want to welcome you.
Re: no surprises there. (Score:5, Informative)
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it's not even that - all things being equal, I'd still go to the US despite not agreeing with the political climate there. It's a big country with lots of amazing stuff to see.
What I hear people really worrying about is the draconian powers that TSA/immigration seem to have acquired, and truly mindbending stories like this [rnz.co.nz] or this [usatoday.com].
If we're accepting anecdata, I'm refusing to go to the US because I'm not pretty and if I get El Salvador'd the media isn't going to give two shits about me.
There's lots of stuff to see in the rest of the world and the US hasn't got that much that is unique to it. A lot of European tourists are now considering Canada over the US especially as the US stopped being a cheap destination years ago, so there's not much difference with Canada any more.
Plus Canadians are nicer, they're what Americans would be
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More than a few wanted Trudeau (later Carney) to flat out cut off the US from electricity and oil in response.
Re:no surprises there. (Score:4, Informative)
The reality is its better, safer, cleaner to visit other countries than the US.. (hell, I think Cambodia is overall safer (in parts) than the US (as a whole) and there are active armed conflicts there).
Re:no surprises there. (Score:4, Insightful)
Why?... There is literally nothing in the US that is worth seeing over the issues that are going on... and overtime there are will be less things to see/do becuase of the changes being done now..
The reality is its better, safer, cleaner to visit other countries than the US.. (hell, I think Cambodia is overall safer (in parts) than the US (as a whole) and there are active armed conflicts there).
That's been the case for years.
You're more likely to be murdered in New Orleans than Cali, Colombia. In fact an American visiting Colombia is less likely to be murdered there than in their home town as the majority of violence is committed by nationals on nationals, so by being a foreigner you're safer. For me from the UK I'm roughly doubling my chances of being murdered by visiting the city of Medellin in Colombia from 1 per 100,000 in the UK to 2 per 100,000 (for tourists) in Medellin, America has a homicide rate of approx 6.8 per 100,000 pop. Honestly I'm probably in more danger in New Orleans even though I suspect that the homicide rate would be lower for tourists (down from NOLAs 54 per 100,000 still leaves a lot of risk).
The big risk in Cambodia is still unexploded ordinance (and in the interests of fairness, the Americans aren't solely to blame there).
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorta but what's really happening is ICE is rotten so there's no accountability there, you're up to whims of whichever group of officers you run into and whatever rules they feel like following. Plenty of stories of Europeans and Asian's being detained for days or weeks.
It's the end-point of America's post-9/11 fetishization of police out there to solve a societal issue with violence thus you allowed to use violence forever because violence can never solve the problem. Just like drugs.
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It's the end-point of America's post-9/11 fetishization of police out there to solve a societal issue with violence
They're actually trying to solve a non-issue with violence, which is even more American.
Re: no surprises there. (Score:3)
Re: no surprises there. (Score:2)
Yes, and racial segregation is less of an issue if you're white. What's your point though?
Re: no surprises there. (Score:5, Interesting)
Precisely why I won't go to the US. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a big country with lots of amazing stuff to see.... What I hear people really worrying about is [...] stories like this [rnz.co.nz] or this [usatoday.com].
Stories like this is precisely why I wouldn't even think of travelling to the US anymore - there's no guarantee I'd be able to enter the country (even though I have no records or any kind), or, if I do, risk being detained indefinitely, if not outright getting kidnapped by masked agents and deported to who knows where, without any legitimate reason given.
There's absolutely nothing in the US that's worth that kind of risk. Full Stop.
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I turned down an in person meeting in New York last week. I have a common name that's usually on somebody's watchlist and crossing the US border almost always results in some medium intensity panic and occasionally drawn guns and an hour or two in a cell until some border guard double checks their initial panic. That was before this year. Now I don't want to find out what the consequences of mistaken identity are.
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's only a non-issue if you're white. If you're any other skin color, border agents have wide latitude on what they can do.
But between the increased scrutiny of everything, including searches of phones and other devices, the accidental possibility of being swept up by an ICE raid, and the possibility of getting jailed at the border, it seems like it's a risk not worth taking.
That's even why the general method is to cross the border by air - at many airports you can pre-clear US customs first before your flight. If they give you trouble, you can rightfully turn right around and leave. But if you do it at say, on US soil or at the border crossing on US soil, you can't and border agents can lock you up for a couple of weeks until they process you.
And right now, the only reason it hasn't fallen more is pretty much prepaid vacations - they booked the US flights and hotels and such ahead of time and changing it would lose them money. I expect it to get worse because all the pre-bookings have pretty much been used.
The only hope is FIFA but even that is looking rather grim with visas and such for players being iffy, and visitors from other countries possibly getting in trouble. There's even talk of moving more games to Canada to avoid the situation.
Conventions are booked years in advance, but you can bet Las Vegas is getting a bit worried. Who knew there were Mexican high rollers who basically are not visiting? Apparently their absence is causing a lot of hurt. And a lot of conventions where "other" (e.g., LGBTQ+) people often attend are also considering moving locations.
All for what, really? So he could take the economy back to the 1950s where manufacturing low value products ruled rather than high value high margin high skill manufacturing, or service oriented businesses like tourism where the marginal cost is low but the profits high.
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It's only a non-issue if you're white. If you're any other skin color, border agents have wide latitude on what they can do.
It's been happening to white tourists. Also, those of us who have white skin but Hispanic heritage are going to be next. Both of my parents were born here. One of them, to a woman who fled Poland to avoid the Nazis. She gave birth to my mother in Wisconsin in 1938. Now I have to fear Nazis here in 2025.
Re: no surprises there. (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m not very interested in visiting the US, but I did just buy flights there. Weâ(TM)re not stopping because it is to get to Central America. The flights are at peak time over Christmas and New Year and were cheap. Despite using three airlines, not one of them is an American one. Thanks Trump.
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Or, they can not buy US dollars abroad. They can just use a credit card when they get here, and when they get home, find that their charges are all in local (home) currency and just pay the bill.
Re:no surprises there. (Score:4, Informative)
Which is the same thing.
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Not sure why you think I'm a MAGA supporter....but, uh....fuck Trump.
It's way more than that (Score:5, Informative)
Who in the fuck would take that risk? The fact it's only an 8% drop really shows how little attention people pay to what's going on in the world.
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"hijacked" The word you are looking for is "kidnapped".
Re: no surprises there. (Score:2)
It depends on the amount of tourists, the type and where.
Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Funny)
Meanwhile in all the politically correct countries everyone is realizing that tourism is destroying their quality of life to a far greater extent than it increases wealth. Trump is never wrong.
"Meanwhile in all the politically correct countries a very small number is realizing that tourism is destroying their quality of life to a far greater extent than it increases wealth. This was not happening most places in the US. Trump lost us easy money"
Took a little work but I fixed that for you. You should work on your typing though as it really looked like you were lying out your ass there. You're welcome!
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Meanwhile in all the politically correct countries - DEFINE. Which countries? Be specific or shut your fucking lie-hole.
everyone - really? Quantify that. Show evidence or shut your lying Nazi Shithole.
is realizing that tourism is destroying their quality of life to a far greater extent than it increases wealth. - False. Stories of anti-tourist sentiment in countries such as France, in very specific areas, focus on OVERtourism, meaning "tourism numbers higher than the local population and infrastructu
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Re:no surprises there. (Score:5, Informative)
is realizing that tourism is destroying their quality of life
False. Objectively so. No country thinks tourism is destroying their quality of life. A small set of local specific areas think *over-tourism* is destroying their specific local area. That is all, and they are right.
That is being played out the world over. There's a lot of focus to stop TikTok tourism where braindead morons fly across the world to swamp one specific area overrunning tourist hotspots. But countries on the whole are not interested in stopping tourism, quite the opposite, it's usually a huge employer. This is why when you for example land at Amsterdam airport you will see adverts to Utrecht, The Hague, Delft, Haarlem, etc. The goal isn't to stop tourism, it's to get the idiots to stop visiting the middle of one city. The locals don't want an end to tourism, they just don't want to see yet another great local bar turned into some place selling trinkets. They don't want to stop money flowing in, they just want to be able to go to a museum without standing in line with a million foreigners. Tourism isn't a bad thing, overtourism in an area which can't support the current mass is.
At no point has anyone campaigned to end tourism. The discussion have only ever been about reducing it in certain key aspects as even the locals that are fed up with tourists realise that it is one of the main income sources for their specific area.
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Nonsense. I lived half my life in a very beautiful and historic city in the south of England. Sure the streets were teaming with tourists in the summer time. But that never disrupted life or upset anyone. Meanwhile it ensured we had lots of beautiful shops and restaurants.
What has destroyed our quality of life is many other things that go on in the modern world. The arrival of McDonalds back in the day was the writing on the wall.
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Disneyland, Las Vegas and Mardis Gras aren't Machu Picchu.
Re: no surprises there. (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re: no surprises there. (Score:2)
AFAIK most Americans are still superficially nice. But I don't need the shit at the border (working for a non-US government), and my wife is Chinese so that goes double. She'd love to visit the USA but all it takes is one looney with a gun. And the USA has far too many of those walking around.
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Tourists bring money in, they don't "leech" anything. Republican controlled states are the leeches, where the people bring in so little in federal tax revenues that their entire state ends up costing more money than is brought in. The USA would be far better without "The South", so, let them have their Confederacy, let them rot for a decade or two, and that might be long enough of having no federal aid to realize that they figure out that their approach to taxes and education doesn't make fiscal sense.
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Also, if you cut ~10% off industry A due to policy A... but you also cut off ~10% of industry B due to policy B, and industry C due to policy C, and on and on up through industry Z, then you end up cutting 10% off your entire economy.
In the current state, some industries are being needlessly hurt for political reasons by less than 10%, but some by vastly more than 10%.
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Non-white.
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17% turnaround (Score:3, Informative)
Re: 17% turnaround (Score:2)
Unlikely. US stocks are overpriced off you don't believe that AI will turn sentient and solve all of our problems. Well, except Berkshire Hathaway and some other companies. But tech is just far too expensive.
You can buy EU-based worldwide bank shares for a p/e around 9 with dividend at 7%. Feel free to continue to buy overpriced American shares, but don't expect me to do the same.
Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Only 8.2%? I'm shocked that any international tourists still travel there. Sure, there are places in the USA I'd like to see, but there are places in Iran and Afghanistan I'd like to see as well, and not likely I'll ever get there in person. And the USA is at around the same level of "want to visit" as those countries.
Re: Why? (Score:3)
There is an inertia to these things - not as many people have planned vacations to Afghanistan as NY or whichever Disneyland.
There is also a ton of business travel in the US, which necessarily translates in direct and indirect tourism spending. That takes an even longer time to migrate if the country is not peripheral to your industry.
If tourism had still been slightly declining or flat since the pandemic this would be bad news. If you account for growth trends it is dire news.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Only 8.2%?
I'm shocked by that figure too. I'm Canadian, and a LOT of by countrymen refuse to go the US. Hell, we go out of our way to not buy US products.
My wife thinks that the figure might be so low because business conferences and the like are probably counted as tourism, and are often booked a few years out and are difficult or impossible to re-locate. If she's right, I suspect US tourism is poised to fall through the floor during the next two years as events are cancelled and companies choose other countries for conferences.
I'm shocked that any international tourists still travel there. Sure, there are places in the USA I'd like to see, but there are places in Iran and Afghanistan I'd like to see as well, and not likely I'll ever get there in person. And the USA is at around the same level of "want to visit" as those countries.
My wife was also just telling me about the many posts she's seen on Facebook about Americans changing wedding plans and the like because friends and family from other countries are refusing to travel to the US. Canada's tourism is getting a boost as a result of that. And even if the current US administration is replaced by sane and sensible non-Fascists, I think it will take a minimum of five years, and possibly twice that long, for tourism to rebound from the mistrust of the States that the world now has.
Hell, between the comments I've made online and the FAA starting to sound like a third-world dumpster fire, my wife and I won't even fly anywhere that takes us through US airspace, never mind actually landing there. I'm very sad that I'll probably never visit New Orleans again, and that I'll never see Boston, Portland Maine, or NYC again. And I would have liked to visit Austin at least once. And we can't go back to Cuba either - again, US airspace. Oh well - other tourist destinations await, and I'd be happy to go back to Sweden or Holland.
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I was with you up until you said you wanted to visit Austin.
But... Why??????
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It's famous for music, and for being a very liberal city in an ultra-conservative state, so it sounds like an interesting place. OTOH, it IS in Texas, so I might have an allergic reaction from being that close to a culture that just feels so foreign and so wrong. Admittedly, that perception is based on second-hand reports and media portrayals - but they're awfully consistent.
In Grade 6 I had a teacher who was also the principal of the school. He told a joke about a Texan on a tour in Britain who said of var
Re: Why? (Score:2)
Holland is happy to have you. Stay away from Amsterdam if you've already seen it (just tour the canals, visit the 3 biggest musea and you're basically done).
I recommend Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague if you haven't been there yet. Utrecht is a much nicer place than Amsterdam, Rotterdam if you like small Manhattan, and The Hague for the musea, peace Palace (ICJ) and the sea.
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Canadians and math (Score:3)
If one applied a tiny bit of thought to the article the headline number 8.2%, is largely explained by the Canadians who previously formed 28% of visitors dropping by 25%, since I'm sure you remember that 28%*25%=7%.
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nobody cares about idiots wearing a billionaire's branded merchandise. The problem is that a number of people traveling to the US either for tourism or business have been stopped by border control for utterly pointless reasons and sometimes deported back home. Why would you visit a country for a vacation when there was a reasonable chance that you and your loved ones will be stuck in a "holding facility", then sent away, your vacation plans ruined?
And while the SCOTUS won't allow it yet, there are plenty of voters which would happily vote for "a death penalty for homosexuality". Remember when we were the "Land of the Free"?
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permanently imprisoned with little legal recourse
As opposed to being deported to a death prison in El Salvador when you're not from El Salvador with no legal recourse?
Look, I'm not interested in a game of "there exist shittier people in the world, so I'm completely justified in being a piece of shit". The point is that many places have decided the visitors (both legal and not) are EVIL and treat them badly. And nowadays, the US is one of those places. Sure, there are even shittier places, but you have not expressed any problems with our current behavio
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Look, I'm not interested in a game of "there exist shittier people in the world, so I'm completely justified in being a piece of shit"
Good, I'm not interested in that game either. Good thing no one is playing it.
The point is...
No, I've already explained the point above in my own post.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
And their point is why would you lump the US in with countries where the worry is being permanently imprisoned with little legal recourse or just plain shot and killed by agents of the government? Trump's shittiness is real but the above's melodrama doesnt serve their point well.
Because you're making a false equivalence of risk. When I visit an abject shithole of a country I know what to expect, I know the rules of engagement. In Trumps America there are no more rules. There's just chaos and a complete unknown. There's a never ending string of stories of normal tourists doing normal things from friendly (reads: white) countries being stopped at borders security for literally the dumbest shit and deported without recourse or representation despite following all the rules and guidance as written.
I know how to go to a shithole country and not get shot. I have no idea currently if I would successfully get in the USA. FFS the last time I went there I spent 30min explaining the concept of a curtesy hotel offered by Emirates airline and why I "suspiciously" had an entry and exit stamp from the UAE in my passport with the same day on it. The entire idea of tourism and travel isn't understood by the morons there.
And that was 6 years ago, by all accounts they are orders of magnitude worse now. Right now I actively wonder if I will just be deported for having a stamp with non Latin alphabet characters in my passport.
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Those countries don't get much tourism either. If you treat foreigners badly, you aren't likely to get many foreign tourists. The degree of badness will of course affect the amount of reduction. 8.2% is the current US score (and as someone else pointed out, forecasts were for an increase in tourism, so it is probably an even larger reduction than the headline figure).
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And the answer is, the bar for not visiting a country is not the risk of permanent imprisonment or execution; it’s maltreatment and especially arbitrary detention. And I can promise you that an awful lot of us out in the rest of the world have a fairly short list of countries we won’t travel to because the countries pass that bar, and the US is on it, along with Afghanistan and Iran. I have happily gone to Indonesia, Dubai and Malaysia this summer, but would not go to the US, for example. There
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Hyperbole.
But also, you know mane bad countries of varying degrees has said it works be great to see. For many America has joined those ranks. And the this is that "visiting our not visiting" is a binary choice. You can't partly visit a country. So if people aren't visiting America because it's unsafe you are ultimately lumped in with those countries.
On a different thread I was arguing with a, MAGA hat who was assuring me America is better than Haiti.
Re: Why? (Score:2)
Most people can live without having sex in front of 4 witnesses.
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Maggots should love Mohammed since he was a child fucker. But they hate him because he wasn't hard enough on homosexuals.
Re: Why? (Score:2)
Still requires 4 witnesses or a confession, which is the sticking point, isn't it?
Note that in Iran you can just get raped in prison by another prisoner with four wardens watching, and that counts. Or you can be tortured, or sign "release papers" that are a confession.
The problem with the USA is that it seems to be taking the same approach under MAGA, where the idea that you're an offender is enough to get you convicted or extradited to a camp in El Salvador. TBC and malaria included free of charge, so even
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There are countries that consider the death penalty for any reason barbaric. The US is guilty of that as well.
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Arbitrary detention is a meaningful risk for travellers to Iran. Sure, you can go and it may well not happen to you. But on the other hand, it may. The UK has had several citizens arbitrarily detained by Iran in the past few years, including an elderly couple on a motorbike tour. And comments on every story about them invariably are dominated by “wtf did you think would happen, you muppets?”
Re: Why? (Score:2)
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Bloody hell, I thought they were at least ten years older than that, based on internal prejudice about who would do this kind of the thing and having heard their adult son speak. I’m 51 and don’t think of myself as elderly, although my kids would beg to differ
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I would love to be able to go, because Iran is such a beautiful country and I love Iranian food. But there’s enough safer destinations in the world where I’d also love to go, and I don’t want to have any complicity in actively funding that regime
No, duh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would anyone in their right mind visit the USA for tourist reasons?
Canadians have been held in your gulags without due process, for no reason. Canadians!! Canada is your closest ally, and a notable contributor to your wealth and security. And you f*ck them over???
If you're willing to f*ck over your closest ally and friend to appease an incontinent, delusional, malignant narcissist like Diaper Donny, then all you deserve is :
F*CK YOU.
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Also Canadian. I've been to the US many times in the past, probably over two dozen times total. Not going again, even when [or if] the fascist GOP are no longer running the show.
There are many, many nice places in the world to go and I don't need to risk some TSA or ICE agent deciding I'm a problem. USA is dead to me as far as visiting goes.
Don't worry, when Trump finds out... (Score:5, Funny)
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Anybody up for invading Venezuela? Trump's prescience is just remarkable, I don't know how long I've been thinking to myself, you know what we really need, we need to invade Venezuela.
Re:Don't worry, when Trump finds out... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's a core part of the problem, you are just imagining things. What evidence do you have that he was bad at his job? I hope it's not all the objectively untrue stuff Trump said. What is your evidence that the new guy is better at the job? Looks like a Heritage Foundation toady. https://www.axios.com/2025/08/... [axios.com]
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They always get revised. This was a big revision, but it's just following a process and is not cooking the books. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/b... [cbsnews.com]
What's more problematic is Trump lying about it. This and his new choice have people concerned he will start cooking the books. These types of games will destroy our economy.
Good (Score:5, Insightful)
When those small tour businesses run by Trump supporters which rely on touristss to stay in business start squealing they're going out of business because of lack of tourists, we can sit back and enjoy a drink. This is what they wanted, they can live with the consequences.
Travel to the US doesn't make sense (Score:5, Informative)
Why would I give my money to a state that is waging economic war against mine, with the explicit goal of conquering my country and making it more like theirs?
I like my social safety net, universal healthcare system, and drastically lower gun crime thanks.
Re:Travel to the US doesn't make sense (Score:5, Funny)
Commie!
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Those of us who are in the USA and haven't lost our minds agree with you and are against Trump and everything he has been doing. Even when Trump has a decent base concept, his lack of understanding about how EVERYTHING works is going to prevent anything good being done.
For those Trump supporters who you KNOW would jump on my comment, here's a clear case where Trump obviously doesn't understand how to make anything actually work.:
Case in point, bringing manufacturing back to the USA. It's not a bad goal,
Prediction (Score:2)
Almost all the posters in this thread who will claim that this is a good thing, or that Trump doesn't have anything to do with it (i.e. the Trump supporters) will post anonymously.
As they always do.
more irony (Score:2)
trump retweeted “NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING” https://www.huffpost.com/entry... [huffpost.com]
I see the 8.2 drop tripling
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Trump is a fascist, and honestly, is paving the way for the rest of the world to intervene and get rid of Trump. Trump supporters don't know enough about history to see how Trump gets so much inspiration from Adolf Hitler that they don't realize that what happened in Germany with World War II could and will happen to the USA where it will take an invasion to bring sanity back, but when that happens, everyone who supported Trump will get treated the way the Nazi Party was and is treated.
Trump already threa
Rent seeking. Real estate guy. (Score:2)
Big surprise.
Can't imagine why ... (Score:3)
US Tourism Suffers 8.2% Decline
Cartoon: ICE's suspect sketch kit [dailykos.com]
For a guy that owns hotels and resorts (Score:4, Insightful)
He really doesn't seem to understand how tourism works.
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He has had SOME successful businesses, and some Americans are dead set on rolling the dice with him. Which is a little bit amusing since Trump's casinos were some of his worst failures, that ultimately involved him transferring them to more competent friends in exchange for a tax write off.
Re: For a guy that owns hotels and resorts (Score:2)
Just dropping all of his money in the S&P500 would have made him an actual billionaire w/o ever having to work. He destroyed so much value by meddling that it's comical people think he's successful.
Transgender (Score:2)
Lots of cruises through the Caribbean start in Florida, I wonâ(TM)t be on any of them.
bigger drops to come (Score:3)
This doesn't make sense! (Score:3)
I swear tourism is the greatest scam ever invented to rip Americans off.
Tourists should pay *at least* 300% more on everything to visit the magnificent land of the United Swamps of America.
Once tourists pay their fair share you, the simple and disinfranchised poverty line American will have a great life again. Promise.
My anecdote is not data (Score:3)
But my friends and I canceled out late May motorcycle trip through the northern states. It was originally slated to run about 10 days south of the borders. Instead we rerouted all over the Canadian Rockies and west coast. That's 10 hotel nights, 30 meals, fuel, and tourist entertainment expenses that no longer went to the states. Just for me. In this group there were four of us.
Now we're in to September, and of the almost 19,000 km I've ridden, exactly none have been states side.
That was NOT the plan. My hotel trips had cancellation insurance - they had been booked for a while. But I'm pretty happy with my summer, and expect this travel trend to continue for the next few years.
Strong US Dollar? (Score:3)
In the USD/EUR exchange rate, the USD is up ~14% since January 1st 2025. That makes traveling to the U.S. relatively more expensive. I'm not saying there aren't other factors (political, etc.,) but as with most things, follow the money.
Re:Strong US Dollar? (Score:4, Informative)
You have it backwards. Traveling to the U.S. is now cheaper for Europeans due to the exchange rate. In January, your Euro bought $1.03. Today, your Euro buys $1.16.
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Re:I want to go there (Score:4, Insightful)
Americans are being financially enslaved both by institutions and themselves. Tariffs are a key part of getting out of that. It reduces consumer spending (increasing savings),
Because nothing boosts an economy quite like nobody spending money.
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And worst of all it leads to an exchange of cultures, which dilutes our pure race.
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You mean the migrants who pay taxes including Social Security and Medicare, raise families, work jobs Americans won't? What Christian wouldn't want that for his/he country? Answer: the white Christian nationalists and Evangelicals who hate the non-whites. Don't forget, we are a Christian Nation, goddamnit! And we'll throw out anyone who doesn't believe this. Now, let us all bow our heads in prayer, in the love of Jesus Christ. Amen, and Amen.
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Even US citizens aren't safe here in the USA and are being picked up by ICE and sent to detention centers in other states. It's not the immigration policies that are the problem, it is the xenophobic Trump supporters who can't handle there being people who "aren't like them".