TORONTO - Here’s the scenario: You invite your friends over for a party but when they get there, grumpy grandpa slams the door in their face because he doesn’t like their religion, their colour or their nationality.

Well, that’s the situation Brand USA, the promoter of American tourism worldwide, finds itself in now that the country’s 70-year-old Grandpa-in-Chief, Donald Trump, has slammed the door shut for some tourists – notably Muslims, Mexicans and even some new Canadians.

Still, Brand USA continues sending out invitations hoping foreign travellers will keep coming to a place where the welcome mat – for some people – has been rolled up and stored away, at least for four years.

According to CNN and Britain’s Mail Online, however, international arrivals to the U.S. since Trump’s first Muslim ban have decreased by a staggering 6.5 per cent. And this week Hopper, a popular app which uses data to predict and analyze airfare, reported that searches for flights to the U.S. between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 by internet users from 122 different countries dropped 17 per cent compared to the first three weeks in January. The backlash has been so severe that some U.S. tourist officials are now expecting a double digit drop in international arrivals by the end of 2017.

Obviously, Brand USA faces an uphill battle.

“These are challenging times but we are committed to the Canadian market and will be spending between $5 million and $8 million promoting the United States in Canada this year,” says Brand USA’s Chief Strategy & Communications Officer, Anne Madison.

Madison is quick to point out that Brand USA is not in a position to question government (Trump’s) policies. “We are not political. We just communicate government policy. Our mandate is to promote U.S. tourism to international travellers and that’s what we do,” she tells me.

She does express her concerns for travellers and the uneasiness the current polices are creating and says Brand USA is keeping a close eye on the situation and conducting research in key markets, like Canada.

“Canadian travellers are our best friends. Our relationship goes beyond geography,” she says.

Last week, though, The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, in an op-ed piece encouraged Canadians to “boycott vacations to the U.S.” until Trump’s term is over.

“When we hear calls for boycotts, that’s very concerning. Travel builds bridges,” says Madison. “We were created to invite and welcome visitors.”

Madison is not the only U.S. tourism official worried about the affects of Trump’s policies. When The Star editorial appeared last week, Fred Dixon, CEO of NYC & Company, New York’s tourism agency, told NEWS1130 that Canada is New York’s second-biggest international market after the United Kingdom, “so when our neighbours to the north call for a boycott, it’s a huge cause for concern.”

Sources tell me that state tourism officials are in full crisis mode but are afraid to speak out for fear Trump’s White House will react angrily.

Brand USA is not mandated to approach the federal government to voice its concerns but The U.S. Travel Association is. In fact, that group will be holding its annual “Destination Capital Hill” in Washington March 28-29 and you can bet lawmakers will be getting an ear full.

This week, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued a statement saying: "Security is a top priority for the U.S. travel community, but it's critical to balance both sides of the ledger: make clear who is not welcome, but also who remains welcome. Not doing so would be to double-down on doubts, discontent and division that risk significant economic harm."

In the statement, Dow went on to say that inbound international travel is the No. 1 U.S. services export, and No. 3 export overall; without the exports represented by travel, the U.S. trade deficit would have been 18 per cent higher in 2015. He further points out that travel supports 15.1 million un-exportable domestic jobs, and is a top 10 employer in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Travel experts predict Trump’s travel policies will cost the U.S. tourism industry, which international travellers contributed $246.2 billion to in 2015, as much as $3 billion in revenue this year.

It didn’t help last week when an Indian man was gunned down in a Kansas restaurant and the accused killer stood over his lifeless body and shouted “get out of my country.”

“Crimes like this are deplorable and despicable and do not reflect the real United States,” says Madison.

There is no more important travel market to the United States than Canada – a fact Madison readily admits – but inboundreport.com reports that Canadian travel to the U.S. will have shrunk by more than five million visitors over the last two years. That’s mainly because of our weak loonie, of course, but with the new U.S. travel policies scaring people, especially immigrants, who, by the way, make up 22 per cent of Canada’s population, more and more Canadians will no doubt be looking for alternatives to U.S. travel.

Just this week, a prominent Canadian travel company told me they are advising their clients, especially visible minorities, to take direct flights from Canadian cities to their destinations and avoid, at all costs, connecting flights in the U.S. for fear the client may be harassed or detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who have been granted wider discretionary powers by the White House.

I was invited to attend the upcoming IPW travel marketplace conference in Washington, but I’ve declined because so many of our readers have asked us to show leadership on this issue. I hope other Canadian travel journalists will follow my lead.

We will continue to promote U.S. destinations in TraveLife because, like Madison says, travel builds bridges and it would be unfair to hold a whole nation accountable for one’s man’s misguided actions.