Yesterday, Donald Trump, the president-elect, met with Barack Obama at the White House, and the world continued to run without any significant hiccups, bar a handful of protests in a few US cities.
And back down under, leaders in the Australian Travel Industry aren’t really expecting that much to change at all in the aftermath of Trump’s win – at least when it comes to the USA remaining an attractive holiday destination for Australian travellers.
According to Jayson Westbury, the CEO of AFTA, the Trump result isn’t likely to dramatically affect the interest Aussies have in the USA, saying it would be “business as usual.”
“If anything Trump has always been very supportive of the tourism industry, he’s been very public about that… We may see some ramping up of their international marketing efforts. He sees international tourism as the right sort of thing to be doing.”
Jayson Westbury, CEO, AFTA, speaking to News.com.au
This is an opinion that’s been echoed by Flight Centre, with Tom Walley, General Manager of the Flight Centre Travel Group’s Australia leisure travel businesses, saying that the USA will continue to attract significant interest from the Australian market, despite Trump at the helm of the White House.
“The US has been incredibly popular and we expect that popularity to continue, given the country’s huge appeal to Aussie holidaymakers,”
Tom Walley, General Manager, Flight Centre Travel Group’s Australia leisure travel businesses
Walley went on to state how the Flight Centre has witnessed some strong demand to the US in recent times, the result of some pretty cheap airfares to Hawaii, Los Angeles and New York.
Chipping in with its two-cents, General Manager of Travel Money Oz, Dion Jensen, has stated that the currency market will continue to remain in a volatile state in the next few days to weeks as markets respond to the news.
“We are expecting continued volatility in the markets and further changes in the exchange rates today.”
Dion Jensen, General Manager, Travel Money Oz, speak to News.com.au
Of course it’s still early days, but stay tuned for more information on what impact – if any – the US election results will have on the Australian travel industry.
