(NEXSTAR) — With growing concerns over economic instability and global tensions, many major tourist destinations across the nation fear they might see fewer visitors this year. However, travel experts suggest that if demand significantly decreases, you might benefit from better deals as these locations try to attract guests.
Where is tourism declining?
A
Las Vegas tourism report
Released earlier this week indicated that both visitor numbers and hotel occupancy rates decreased compared to last year. This was according to data from California’s tourism board.
reported steep drop-offs
beginning in February and March.
Due to the decline in travel demand, leading U.S. airlines are cutting back on their flight schedules and adjusting or canceling their financial forecasts for the year.
“We concluded with a robust fourth quarter, experienced reasonable activity in January, but noticed a significant decline in domestic leisure travel as we progressed into February,” said American Airlines CEO Robert Isom to CNBC.
Customer hesitancy about scheduling trips would align with
a new poll
That indicated numerous individuals dread the U.S. is under threat.
steered into a recession
Moreover, President Donald Trump’s extensive and inconsistently applied tariffs will lead to increased costs.
The decrease in visitors includes both locals and international tourists.
U.S. Travel Association
Reports indicated that international visits decreased by 14% in March compared to the previous year. The organization noted the most significant declines came from travelers originating in Canada and Western Europe.
Michael Feroli, who leads the U.S. economics team at J.P. Morgan, suggested that the decline in travel might be attributed to increasing hostility toward Americans.
Recently, many articles have highlighted how tourists are cancelling their visits to the U.S. as a reaction against what they see as overly strict new trade measures,” he noted in his report for clients. “This could indicate an additional factor we should take into account when evaluating the impact of these duties on overall economic action.
A modest reduction in international travel, stemming from either boycotts or financial instability, could result in significant losses amounting to billions for the U.S. economy.
Bloomberg
reports.
Is the decrease in tourism likely to lead to better travel offers?
Should demand decrease within the travel industry, airlines, hotel chains, and similar businesses might reduce their prices in an effort to attract more customers again.
The cost of airfares decreased in both February and March, as reported.
Labor Department monitoring
.
The ticket prices haven’t maintained the strength observed during the fourth quarter of last year extending through January and early February,” said Alaska Airlines Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett to CNBC. “While demand remains robust across the sector, it hasn’t reached the levels everyone expected would persist from last year.
Before jumping to too many conclusions, several industry analysts suggest holding off until the April data comes out to evaluate whether the typically bustling spring break and Easter travel periods also exhibited price decreases.
Nonetheless, airline business writer
Brian Summers
stated to The New York Times, “Overall, I anticipate that prices will drop, and we’ll observe more unoccupied seats.”
Should the U.S. economy slide into a recession this year, it might lead to lower costs for travel as well as various other products and services.
Indeed, during the 2008 economic downturn, we observed deflation for several months when the general price level dropped,” explained Tyler Schipper, an associate professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas. “This phenomenon tends to be pronounced in items considered luxuries for many families, such as travel. For example, airfare typically sees price reductions during most recessions. If another recession were to occur, I expect this trend would persist.
Nexstar’s Addy Bink and the Associated Press provided contributions for this report.
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