Chaos and the losses in real numbers

The new administration has issued more than 50 executive orders. Judges are stopping their implementation, and regular Americans have been protesting in all 50 states against some of the most damaging orders. Farmers in Kansas anticipated losing close to a billion in food production income! Only a portion of the Federal funds that were paused have resumed, as there is widespread confusion about the policies that are actually in effect.

The threatened tariffs on Chinese imports were implemented, while imports from Canada and Mexico were paused for a month.  What is going to happen when that month runs its course?  At this point, who knows?

Before the U.S. and Canada agreed to pause the trade war, delaying tariffs that were set to go into effect, economists believed a lengthy trade war would weaken the value of the Canadian dollar, making travel to the U.S. more expensive for Canadians.  A 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending, and 14,000 job losses. Visit Detroit, right across the border from Windsor, estimates that approximately 1.3 million Canadians visit Michigan annually and spend about $400 million.

Those are real numbers and real impact on tourism.  Couple this with the rising price of food when vegetables are left lying in the field unharvested, and food imports increase the cost. Ultimately, when many of these factors come together, Americans will have less discretionary money to spend on travel.  And who will want to go to places where protests are occurring and everyone is in a sour mood?

How to deal with it all? 

First, stay tuned in. 

Don’t tune out from the news.  Even though all of the chaos is exhausting – which may be the point as Washington throws more at the wall to see what sticks – work to determine which things will have the greatest effect on your particular corner of the world.

Look at ways to achieve some level of financial sustainability in your organization. 

Ultimately, the finances of everyone in tourism are going to be affected to some level.  Bring together a meeting of economic development, tourism, and the chamber to determine ways to work together, in the interest of all surviving.

As with any other business, take a hard look at expenses.  Eliminate costs that are “nice to have” but not critical to have. And then take a look at revenues to look at areas where revenues other than hotel taxes can be increased.  Look at the cost/benefit ratio of a whole collection of possible responses.

The above may look like simple steps to take right now. Yet, these steps mean you are proactively planning for whatever eventualities that may happen rather than being surprised when they do.