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Comment by ilamont | Hacker News Reader

The article neglects to mention the huge drop in international visits to the U.S. in recent years. Quoting a USA Today article from last week:

U.S. visits as a portion of total global travel fell to 11.7% last year from a high of 13.7% in 2015, according to the travel group and Oxford Economics. That has resulted in losses to the U.S. economy of 14 million international visitors, $59 billion in traveler spending and 120,000 U.S. jobs.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/08/09/travel-inter...

I know Disneyland and Disneyworld have traditionally been popular destinations for foreign tourists; it's reasonable to assume that if overall international travel is down the number of foreign visitors to the parks is also down, even before factoring in the high prices everyone has to pay to get into the parks.

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> The article neglects to mention the huge drop in international visits to the U.S. in recent years. Quoting a USA Today article from last week:

Part of this might be the ever-stronger US dollar. Five years ago, AUD$1 would buy about USD$0.94. Now it buys USD$0.68, making the trip to the US about a third more expensive.

US dollar is pretty much steady against the Euro from 2016 levels. The AUD fall is because of our mismanaged economy.

The fall in US tourism can better be attributed to Trump trashing America's foreign image.

> The fall in US tourism can better be attributed to Trump trashing America's foreign image

Can it? Disneyland continues to increase prices. Galaxy's Edge is basically one big store hocking overpriced trinkets.

I used to go to Disneyland every week for lunch in high school (I've always lived about 15 minutes from it). Business meetings were casually scheduled and held at the Blue Bayou until the yearly pass pricing doubled at the turn of the millennium.

Now, I can't even rationalize going for fun, much less purchasing food in the park. Inflation, price hikes and taxation has steadily priced many things out of affordability, in California.

As if most tourists care for politics? Changing trends in tourism and financial issues are far more likely reasons...

You can't rule out the horror stories of foreign travelers being harassed and abused at US border checkpoints.

I'm inclined to think it's had a chilling effect when tourists are making their holiday choices. It's pretty easy to skip the USA and find another destination.

We've been hearing those stories way more in the Bush era when that became a thing, and even in the Obama era, with various TSA related news (several harassment stories have been posted on HN over the years too) -- and yet even during Bush's years arrivals year rising (click: "max" to see from 2000 or so):

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/tourist-arrivals

If anything, despite some stagnation, the trend is more or less the same and still rising in 2017 and 2018 (click "5 years"):

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/tourist-arrivals

As a previously frequent tourist to the US, I assure you politics is an important consideration for me and my family. Many people of my acquaintance have also taken politics into account when making vacation plans.

I’m not aware of any studies on this, so anecdote is all I have. But for me, it’s “obvious” that politics is a factor rather than “obvious” that tourists only think of trends and exchange rates.

In fact, it’s now common (at least in my circle) for people to plan vacations to avoid changing planes in the USA, because of the delays in customs and the risks of missing connections or being denied entry to the US (required in the USA even if you never leave the transfer area).

part of the problem is that airports in the US have no "transfer area" - international departure lounges are not set up to require passing through immigration if you want to leave them - many are connected directly to domestic departure lounges (SFO is an example)

It'a not a decision made by US airports, the US requires every person who lands on US soil to clear US customs even if that person's final destination is outside the US (ie. the US doesn't allow sterile transit).

Yes but the US is very unusual in this practice, I don't know of anywhere else in the Western World where this happens.

I think France is the same.

We traveled a couple of years ago to Milan via Amsterdam. My recollection is that we did have to clear customs in Amsterdam.

You traveled to a European city to a European city a Milan to Amsterdam flight would be a domestic flight. Did you need to go through customs again in Milan

You were entering the Schengen area - the group of European nations who have a combined border - once you enter one of those countries you can freely travel to the others (so no passport booths on the roads on the borders between the Netherlands and Italy) - your flight from Amsterdam to Milan was an internal flight.

If you had flown into Amsterdam and transited to Moscow you would have gone thru metal detectors to the departure lounge, but not thru immigration

> It'a not a decision made by US airports, the US requires every person who lands on US soil to clear US customs even if that person's final destination is outside the US (ie. the US doesn't allow sterile transit).

Is it true that they must clear customs _in addition to_ passport/immigration control? If so that is indeed unusual.

Yes, you have to claim your bags, pass thru customs and then check them on to your next flight

They do. Both myself and a few people are know very much lost interest in visiting the US for a while. Even ignoring the current politics, I'm keen to wait until the immigration becomes more civilised. (got tired of the extra wait in the special room)

This also makes the idea of visiting Canada much harder, since most flights stop over in the US, causing visa headaches.

I'm in the US on a work visa. Been flying in and out pretty often both before and after Trump. My observation is that standing in immigration line is annoying, but not more than it used to be.

Everyone has heard the horror stories of people who accidentally run foul of US immigration - one big problem is that the US is one of the few countries without exit procedures, no exit stamp in your passport means no way to prove what date you left - if the US authorities screw up collecting that exit info from the airline you end up in the pokey next time you visit.

Also some countries are now issuing travel warnings about the US because of the mass shootings, especially those aimed at visitors.

For example (directly from govt travel websites):

NZ - "Exercise increased caution in the United States due to the threat of terrorism." ..."There is a heightened threat of terrorism in the United States and terrorists remain likely to try to carry out attacks. A number of politically motivated attacks have occurred in recent years, causing multiple deaths and injuries."

Australia - "The United States has more violent crime than Australia, although it rarely involves tourists. Shootings, including mass shootings, can occur in public places"

UK - "Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in the USA. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. You should monitor media reports and remain vigilant at all times."

Here's a more general survey of such travel warnings https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/07/world/us-travel-advisorie...

With how prominent the US is in the news cycles here overseas, it definitely does. Especially with huge influx of mass shootings, many people in my friend circles have stated that they simply don't feel safe visiting the USA.

Disneyland is in California of course. Your premise falls apart when you examine California's tourist numbers.

For California:

"In 2017, tourism recorded an eighth straight year of growth, setting records in travel spending, jobs and tax revenue."

"Sustained growth continued in Visit California’s 13 international markets, with 17.6 million international visitors (+1.7% YOY) spending $26.5 billion in the state (+5.1% YOY)"

"2018 Travel-Related Spend $140b, +5.4% year over year"

https://industry.visitcalifornia.com/

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