Between 2015 and 2017 the US share of the global long haul market slipped by $32.2 billion from 13.6% to 11.9% – the first drop after more than a decade of consistent growth.

Roger Dow, president of the US Travel Association, divulged the figures at IPW in Denver yesterday (May 22).

“We’re falling behind our competitors: we’re behind countries including Germany, China and France,” admitted Dow.

Making reference to Trump’s stringent travel policies, Dow said the country must be committed to “pursuing pro-travel policies” and embracing processes to make travel easier.

“We are hopeful Trump will make it clear that he wants more business and leisure travellers here,” said Dow.

He also recognised a need for tight security in the country, which he said can be married with maintaining “robust international visitor numbers”.

“Without US security there is no travel,” he stated. “We should be the most secure and most visited country in the world.”

Dow said a focus on embracing technological innovations such as facial recognition at airports and automated passport control kiosks could make travel to the US easier and faster, while also ensuring tight security.

“We need security through data: a heavy-handed approach is not the best approach,” he added, in comments that make reference to Trump’s stringent travel policies.

Dow added that the US Travel Association is now working with the Trump administration and Visit US Coalition, a conglomerate of trade groups launched in January, to address and reverse the decline in market share.