Economists from the non-profit U.S. Travel Association recently noted that travel within the United States grew 4 percent in the past year, but warn that international travel to the United States is slowing.
Domestic travel is expected to increase by approximately 2.6 percent over the next six months. Consumers are currently confident, and they are booking ahead of time and looking for places to travel in-country. Unfortunately, economists fear political uncertainty may prove the domestic confidence short-lived.
“For the first time in the history of the Travel Trends Index, both the business and leisure segments of domestic travel expanded every month during the first half of the year,” David Huether, U.S. Travel Senior Vice President for Research, said. “However, rising oil prices and trade uncertainty—particularly with regard to tariffs—have the potential to dampen consumer confidence.”
Those same factors are already cutting into international inbound travel. Everywhere else in the world is expected to increase by 6 percent in 2018 — the U.S. growth rate is a mere 2.2 percent. Huether and U.S. Travel’s economists fear the world is coming to look at the United States as closed off to business and are urging the administration to reverse course and save the U.S. share of the global travel market.