It also happens to be ridiculously overpriced for what you get as a tourist, and in tough economic times satisfying one's curiosity about the US may not be as high on the list. But yes, there is also the political climate.
A good faith interpretation of what they said wouldn't include projecting fear-mongering politics into their meaning.
The monoculture thing came only from you.
I don't think that is valid. While my monoculture question came of as loaded, judging by the backlash of commenters, and I should haven't asked it, I don't think the OP understands the diversity of the US, and I don't think a judgement on value of travel in the US without experiencing it first can be made; even by US residents.
There are other many more layers to a tourist's cost/benefit analysis than just culture. Some of those layers will be common to the entire US:
- exchange rate between USD and their home currency
- affordability might vary across the US, but perhaps the consider even the cheaper places to be too pricey (the US is indeed a very pricey destination compared to much of Europe)
- the customs & border people deter tourists from visiting, no matter where in the US they want to go
- the US is a long flight away for many people in the world, whether they're going to Seattle, LA, NY, or Miami.
OP might be absolutely enthralled by US cultural diversity and still make the exact same comment.
"do you think the US is a monoculture?" implying that the commenter does think that, and that that thought is ignorant and absurd. Instead of asking what they are referring to so you can discuss the point they're making.
What fear mongering politics? The commenter is obviously talking about the reported cases of people being detained, deported, and harassed for their political views.
It is a widely held view of the US by many foreigners; they don't conceptualize how big and diverse the US is.
I thought a perfectly reasonable and likely interpretation of their comment is that the later sentence, with the "also" does not connect their `value of being a tourism in the US` comment to the political climate. Other commenters here apparently do weigh the cost of travel with the risk the government of the country will detain them.
Which now includes a possibility of getting detained while trying to enter.
The border crossing is the first experience that you get from a country. It has definitely gone worse. And it was not great to begin with.
In the past, I had the ... pleasure ... of being put in the "back room" for 3 hours after a long transatlantic flight at SFO. I was not afraid then, just annoyed and tired. I would be afraid now and I would rather avoid it. There's many other places I can choose to visit.
If it were normal police I think you would be right but federal / CBP it is effectively impossible to overcome. One of the big things they do is play jurisdiction fuck-fuck games, if you start to win in federal court the judge will find a reason why it should have been in the state court and vice versa. The other thing they did in say when I lodged a complaint to the nursing board was they just played flip flop games that it was a police search when I complain of illegal health care, but when you complain the police search is illegal it gets shifted to just being health care, so they just flop a catch 22 to avoid being responsible for either.
>Was this all after Trump's ICE enforcement changes?
Was under Biden.
I did not think their comments implied a connection between the value of being a tourist in the US and a their concerns over politics. Maybe if it were much cheaper they wouldn't care about the politics, but that doesn't seem likely to me.
It is followed with "But yes, there is also the political climate.", which I interpreted as an agreement with the reasons in the article -- that the decline was due to the political climate.
How is that a misinterpretation? It seems likely and reasonable that that the "ridiculously overpriced" comment is being stated because they meant it is _additional_ reason for the decline - as it is one not stated in the article.
To take this a step further, it doesn't matter where you enter the country, even if it is a place where the people are generally nice and specifically sympathetic to tourists getting detained, the first person you're dealing with is an LEO at border control & they are all following the same orders. They appear to be going out of their way to look for reasons (on your cell phone, tattoos, etc.) to send you back home. God forbid you have a run in with another cop after you've entered the country...