On a warm surf – Antje Blinda, Simon Book, Claus Hecking, Eva Lehnen, Martin U. Müller, Thilo Neumann, Julia Stanek and Gerald Traufetter in Der Spiegel:
‘Sometimes, just 20 minutes lie between a dream vacation and a horrific travel experience. It’s early May in Seattle – in the far northwestern corner of the U.S. Birgit and Martin Kreil, both from Vienna, are experienced travelers to the U.S., with the couple having made the trip around half a dozen times. They have family in Seattle, which is why they regularly fly the 11 hours across the Atlantic. Never before have they encountered any problems.
But this time, it’s different. This time, as they are standing before the border control officials, the procedure appears to have changed. The officers flip through their passports before consulting with their colleagues. Then comes the command: "Follow me.” They are led to a neon-lit room with a handful of chairs and forced to relinquish their mobile phones. Nobody tells them why or gives them any kind of explanation as to why they have been pulled aside, says Birgit Keil, 45. They are left completely alone and began growing concerned. "I thought that was it and that we would be placed on the next flight back,” says Martin Kreil, 46.
Their ordeal ends after 20 minutes, though it seems far longer to the Kreils. The officials wordlessly return their passports and mobile phones and gesture to the door. They are allowed to enter the country to attend Birgit’s family reunion in addition to a flight to Hawaii to celebrate her father’s 85th birthday. But they are left with a bad taste in their mouths. "Arbitrary,” she says. "Banana republic,” he says.’
(…)
‘Instead of the 9 percent increase in international arrivals to the U.S. that had been predicted, tourism authorities are now saying that 2025 will see a 10 percent drop in arrivals – a gap of almost 20 percentage points. According to Oxford Economics, the United States is the only one of the 184 economies analyzed that is predicted to see a decline in spending by international visitors in 2025.’
(…)
‘European interest in traveling to the U.S. is also dropping. New York now believes the number of international guests visiting the city will be 17 percent lower than forecasts earlier in the year. Denmark and Finland have issued travel warnings for transgender travelers. Germany’s government has at least updated its travel advisories for the U.S. to note that "false information about the purpose of stay or even a slight overstay” may lead to "arrest, detention and deportation.” From the beginning of the year to the end of May, the number of Germans flying to the U.S. dropped by almost 8 percent relative to the same period a year earlier. In the Netherlands, the drop was 11 percent, and it was 6.5 percent for both Belgium and Norway.’
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‘For last minute travelers, to be sure, that is good news: Tickets to America can be had for cheaper than they have been for years.’
(…)
‘The fear and unease in the travel industry, though, is vast. Many are concerned that the malcontent could manifest itself for years to come and that the wealthy and important clientele from overseas will stay away for several years, preferring instead to explore other countries as well. And that they will learn that other countries, too, serve tasty cocktails on breathtaking natural beaches with warm surf.’
(…)
‘More than 3 million visitors come to Alaska in a normal season, bringing in $3.9 billion and providing 48,000 jobs. Tourism was recently on the verge of displacing the state’s fishery as the second-most important sector of the economy, right behind the oil and natural gas industry.
Now, the slowing stream of visitors is even making itself felt in the elegant Candlewood Suites. Hotel manager Lloyd Huskey, in his mid-60s, points to a table on his computer screen showing that his hotel has only been 66 percent full since the beginning of the year on average. In 2024, it was 87 percent at this point in the year. And because management has cut rates, turnover has taken a hit, with the hotel bringing in only $1.5 million instead of the normal $2.5 million. Hardly surprising, says Huskey: "No one feels safe to travel.”’
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‘In an attempt to address the problem, Presutti and Coker recently traveled to Washington, D.C., with their counterparts from a number of large American cities to meet with lawmakers and cabinet members to lobby for policy changes and, especially, a change in tone. To no avail. "I was shocked,” says Presutti, "how little attention most people in Washington pay to tourism. How little they know about how important our industry is.”’
(…)
‘In 1982, Austrian pop star Udo Jürgens released the anthem to go along with the phenomenon: "Ich war noch niemals in New York” – "I’ve never been to New York.” The U.S. became a place where many young Germans went to study abroad, to work as au pairs, for internships or even to study at university. Later, they wanted to take their children to the U.S. to share their experiences – and booked summer vacations in the States.
It was a time when tourists weren’t just extremely welcome in the U.S., but the country also believed they could serve a greater good. In order to spread the American worldview across the globe, it was helpful to have an army of people who had visited the country. Around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the U.S. even eliminated the visa requirement for German travelers – so that all those from former East Germany could also visit Manhattan and the Golden Gate Bridge.’
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‘The constant mantra of "higher, faster, farther” was always a source of fascination for the Germans, as was unbridled capitalism, the striving for one’s own happiness. Is that fascination now transforming into repulsion because the situation has become so grotesque, the abuses all too obvious? And not just since this president’s election? Schubert can only give his friends a glimmer of hope. "For Europeans, a trip to Hawaii is an absolute dream vacation. For most, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he says. "All the stars have to be perfectly alligned.”’
Read the article here.
Stock market is up, who cares about tourism?
And since everything can change suddenly, maybe suddenly the president will start to care about tourism.
It’s also possible that higher, faster farther lost its attraction.
But I don’t see an end to Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism, the elites, especially the young elites very much want to take part in the lingua franca, and everything that is associated with it.
The moment I will start writing on this site in German, Chinese, or Spanish, you know that the winds of change are blowing too hard.
The voluntary submission to American culture, not only a European thing, but very much a European thing, will live longer than Trump. And this submission goes hand in hand with outburst of anti-Americanism.
You love your parent, you hate your parent, even when the parent is not a parent anymore.