The executive director of the Global Business Travel Association is raising alarm bells over the bottom-line economic impact from the U.S. travel ban encompassing seven Muslim-majority countries.
“The biggest driver of our economic recovery of the past seven years from the most recent downturn was international outbound travel as U.S. businesses found top line growth and business opportunity from new markets all over the world. It seems clear that this is an area presidential policies should work to bolster rather than diminish,” the GBTA’s Michael McCormick wrote in a blog post published yesterday.
According to the GBTA’s Q4 2016 travel outlook, a 4.4% increase in business travel spending was forecast, but this “is now very much in jeopardy,” McCormick wrote. “This will be especially true if we continue to see losses like we witnessed in the week following the travel ban,” which totaled US$185 million lost in travel bookings.
McCormick, who also listed policy priorities that could have a positive impact on travel such as lower corporate tax rates and less regulation, said the U.S. should focus on expanding security programs rather than limiting travel.