Trump’s anti-immigrant stance endangers tourism
Even when nation states are in a state of fall-out, the tourism bridge should never be collapsed, as it allows for an effective people to people diplomacy — the most effective diplomacy, and more so in this IT age.
RECENT Executive decisions by the United States government under the leadership of President Donald J Trump, effective January 27, 2017, have generated global debate, anxiety, reciprocal action and consequently engendered unprecedented apprehension in the global tourism industry.
For a period of 120 days, the temporary order suspends entry of any refugees into the US It also prohibits all Syrian refugees from entering the US until further notice. Additionally, it bans the citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries — Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen — from entering the US on any visa category, which include those travelling on tourism purposes.
While it is too soon to determine if the Executive Order impacts tourism, it has certainly generated a crisis of confidence in the travel-market attendant with negative reputational implications on the ‘American Dream.’ America was founded on the basis of its openness to immigration-all of ‘us’ searching for this now increasingly elusive dream.
Tourism is one of the largest sectors in the US making a total contribution of US$ 1,47 trillion to its GDP in 2014, and it is forecast to reach 2,25 trillion US dollars in 2025, based on a policy thrust by the last administration, on visa facilitation and travel liberalisation.
That policy thrust gave hope to a world gravitating towards more openness in travel business with many regions advocating strongly for seamless travel in order to boost tourism performance and benefit local economies in a world beset by economic meltdown and commodity price downturn.
It is pertinent to note that the travel GDP of the US is equivalent to direct exports of the entire global tourism sector of US1, 5 trillion as at 2015!
Tourism boasted virtually uninterrupted growth over time, despite occasional shocks, demonstrating the sector’s strength and resilience. International tourist arrivals have over time increased from 25 million globally in 1950 to 1,24 billion in 2016. Likewise, international tourism receipts earned by destinations worldwide have surged from $2 billion in 1950 to $1,7 trillion in 2016.
Employing 1 in every 11 people equivalent to 288 million jobs directly and indirectly with the US alone accounting for 6 million jobs. In addition to receipts earned in destinations, international tourism also generated $211 billion in exports through international passenger transport services rendered to non-residents in 2016, bringing the total value of tourism exports up to $ 1,5 trillion, or $4 billion a day on average.
International tourism now represents 7 percent of total world’s exports and 30 percent of services exports (World Tourism Barometer, 2016), up from 6 percent in 2014 as tourism has grown faster than world trade over the past four years.
As a worldwide export category, tourism ranks third after fuels and chemicals and ahead of food and automotive products. In many developing countries, tourism ranks as the first export sector.
Clearly, tourism’s importance cannot be under-estimated, and that also behooves us to ensure travel is facilitated optimally, and we all have a stake to enable legitimate tourism in the midst of this crisis. The Executive Order seem to be at odds with the pledge to stimulate the US economy by reducing its trade deficit and increasing exports.
Travel expenditure by foreigners in the US and any destination for that matter is captured as export proceeds, so actions that stymie tourism are direct impediments to exports and will exacerbate the trade deficit.
Over and above its positive economic impacts, tourism is one of the sectors contributing to US socio-economic development since it increasingly allows citizens to become aware of other people’s cultures, thereby symbolically inculcating cultural tolerance, social harmony and co-existence.
Even when nation states are in a state of fall-out, the tourism bridge should never be collapsed as it allows for an effective people to people diplomacy — the most effective diplomacy, and more so in this IT age. Dr Mzembi is Zimbabwe’s the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and Africa’s candidate for the post of United Nations World Tourism Organisation. Read the full article on www.herald.co.zw