Originally Posted by
FLLDL
I would have to disagree very strongly with this. Using the change in US tourism marketshare from 2000 - 2011 in isolation and without any acknowledgement of anything which might have changed in the world in that time period is foolish.
China's GDP went from $1T to $7T from 2000-2011. India's GDP more than doubled. Regional tourism in Asia has boomed, which has decreased the US' marketshare.
So on a percentage basis we are getting a smaller piece of a larger global pie, and indeed the US set new records for tourist arrivals and spending in 2011. Where is the crisis?
To ignore the changes which have occurred globally since 2000 and the effects on the global tourism market is silly.
Who is ignoring the changes which have occurred globally since 2000? I am intimately familiar with the changes, particularly those that have occurred in and around BRICs, with India and China in particular way more than most. For a while I was the most frequent foreigner entering India from long-haul flights.
The problem is that the US has had approaches which have undermined growing the market share and/or otherwise maximizing the employment rolls that would have occurred if tourism numbers to the US were even higher and we had maintained marketshare.
Originally Posted by
M60_to_LGA
You're totally onto something here. Just in the past few years I know there's been an explosion of domestic travel in, for example, Brazil, as the country has for the first time ever developed a mass middle class. I've also seen reports that similar things have happened in China and India, and I'm sure elsewhere in the world with similar macroeconomic trends, things are much the same.
On an anecdotal basis (mostly on FT!) I've heard people say they refuse to fly to the US anymore because of our inane security theater. But somehow I don't quite see that being the start of a global trend. I think most casual international travelers who want to come see NY or Vegas frankly don't know anything at all about US security rules anyway.
Most people from the fastest growing parts of the world in recent years who can afford to travel to the US are well aware of the "security" hassles of the US, with the initial "security" requirement in the way being visa acquisition.
Even looking at just the international long-haul travel marketshare, the US has lost out.