Every time American tourism officials - in this case Brand USA - try to paint a rosy picture regarding inbound tourism numbers in the Donald Trump era, reality smacks them in the face.
Case in point: This spring Brand USA shouted from the highest mountain that Trump’s travel ban had not had a huge impact on tourism numbers. Then, the U.S. Travel Association contradicted them by reporting a few weeks ago that arrivals to the U.S. this year are actually down 6.8 per cent, and that was before a trio of hurricanes devastated American tourist hot spots like Puerto Rico and Florida  and the recent mass killings in Las Vegas.
I knew Brand USA was misleading us with "fake" numbers when I visited New York about a month ago and saw for the first time ever stores on Fifth and Madison avenues - the high-end shopping meccas of the world - with “out of business” signs on their doors.
One high-end store salesperson told me a number of factors were in play - “the retail reality where more people are buying online is one, but the biggest problem is the Trump Slump. As you can see, there are no tourists,” she told me.
The tourism arrival are so bad that U.S. governors, led by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, planned a trip north recently to try and get Canadians to return to his great state.
Brand USA officials continue to dodge me when I ask for clarification on the U.S. tourist numbers - written questions I've submitted to Brand USA President & CEO Chris Thompson have gone unanswered. Many TraveLife readers continue to demand we boycott the U.S. as long as Trump is in office. That’s something we are not prepared to do. But we will no longer attend Brand USA press events as long as they offer up "fake" numbers.
Statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that through July 2017, total overseas travel to the U.S. had declined by almost 7 per cent compared to 2016. Including Mexico and Canada, total international travel has dropped 4.2 per cent.
The Global Business Travel Association recently projected a $1.3 billion loss in overall travel-related spending this year in the United States just from Europe and the Middle East.