Much negativity has been written by ‘Travel Influencers’ and people calling themselves so called ‘Travel Bloggers’ on social media about visiting America and President Trump’s tightening of border controls and visas. From burner phones to social media history, the chat online is relentless. I’m here to tell you that for the large part, it’s puffery!

This blog post reaches you from sunny Los Angeles and a poolside bar at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. I arrived  on an Airbus A350 a few days ago from London Heathrow Airport. The jet wasn’t even half full. Great for me as I had three seats to myself, not so good for the airline and its profit margin.

I like to deal in facts and not hearsay. Tourism is as a whole down 21% year on year across the popular American destinations including Las Vegas. Many blame the President but fail to understand that there’s not only a a cost of living crisis in the UK, there’s an even greater one here in the America. I paid $9 for a latte in Starbucks today and $10 for a sachet of washing power to do laundry. Oh and then was the $14 pint of beer last night! You get the idea, people are spending less now on holidays which has a huge impact on tourism.

And the tourism industry as a whole has added to the drop in numbers by pricing themselves out of the market. It’s not only the room you now have to pay for, it’s the resort fee and on top of that parking too – a whopping $35 a night at the hotel where I am. Is it any wonder people are voting with their feet and staying away.

Now let’s deal with the ‘Elephant In The Room,’ entry into America and you encounter with Customs & Border Protection or CBP for short. Now here I need to declare an interest which is I have Global Entry which in essence means I get to beat the immigration line at airports. But here’s the thing, I still like you have to speak to a CBP Officer and answer questions about my stay. And fact, in over three decades of traveling to America, I’ve never been refused entry or had my iPhone searched. And here’s another fact for you. Fact – the American authorities already know about you as the airlines are required to provide full passenger lists ahead of departure.

To sum up, if lyou’re an average tourist like me, then there’s noting to worry about.nIf however, you’re an Influencer or Travel Blogger basing the authorities without doing your due diligence, then you might have something to worry about.

Happy traveling.