TURBULENCE AHEAD

Airlines Offer Bleak Warning on Tourism to the U.S.

Trump’s trade threats and unwelcoming border stance are driving European travelers away.

Europeans are starting to avoid travel to the United States over President Donald Trump’s economic brinksmanship and increasingly unwelcoming border stance, two major airlines have warned. “We know there are a lot of customers that are holding back in buying tickets for a little more clarity on... the border, and things like that,” Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith told analysts Wednesday, according to the Financial Times. Transatlantic bookings from Europe for May and June have dropped 2.4 percent compared to the same period last year, the outlet reported. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline group was slashing its planned growth on transatlantic routes in half. “When it comes to vacation trips to the U.S., especially from the German, Austrian and Swiss markets, it’s easy to imagine conversations around the kitchen table where families are saying, ‘We don’t know yet if we really want to go,’” he said. Spohr noted that Trump’s sudden walkback on his tariffs against Europe could help bookings “recover.” Stories of European travelers being detained after arriving at U.S. airports have circulated widely in recent weeks. “Right now, it’s really the new administration that’s scaring people. They’re afraid of going through Customs,” a tour guide in California told France 24.