Route 66 author Jim Hinckley observed that foreign tourism to the United States — a key driver to the Mother Road economy — began to decline in the past a year and a half.
Hinckley said the downward trend began about 20 months ago. It’s not just anecdotal evidence, either.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported in the first nine months of 2017 (the latest data available), overseas visits to the U.S. fell 6 percent from the earlier period.
A month-to-month breakdown shows the drop-off began in April 2016 and stayed down every month since, except for April 2017. The down trend included double-digit percentage dips in February and March 2017.
The drop-off was predicted in early 2017 by many travel-industry professionals and developers of a mobile application that analyzes airfare online search data.
The down period is a departure from the previous six years, which saw overseas visits to the U.S. increase in 72 of 75 months.
So, as Buffalo Springfield, once sang, “There’s something’s happening here / What it is ain’t exactly clear.”
Anecdotally, the decline seems to be spilling into segments of international Route 66 tourism, especially tours. Hinckley wrote:
Recently I discussed this issue with a Scandinavian tour company owner that specializes in Route 66 tours. He has been providing this service since 1999 and never canceled a tour. This year out of more than 20 guided tours scheduled, five have been canceled.
In discussions with the owners of two Australian based tour companies, they have either canceled tours or scaled back the size, and are having trouble getting clients for U.S. tours. A Dutch company noted that of nine tours scheduled, at least four will be canceled.
Dries Bessels of the Dutch Route 66 Association wrote on Facebook:
[…T]rust me, the news *is* that bad. Not only Route 66 tours but tours in general. Last week I was at a large fair where traditionally a number of tour companies are represented. Everybody I talked to was complaining about it. For example, the company I ride for is preparing to cancel 4 out of 9 tours this year, a number that was reached never before. A company from Norway has had tours every year since 1999 and has just cancelled a tour for the first time in their history. Tourism is down, no matter what anybody says.
Hinckley and several people who posted on a Facebook thread gave not just one, but several reasons, for the drop:
- A strong dollar, making it more expensive for international travelers to venture to the U.S.
- “Dramatic” increases in the rates for motorcycle rentals. EagleRider, which quotes prices of $4,680 to $8,160 per person for Route 66 tours, was specifically named amid the hikes.
- Mass shootings and perceptions of violence in the U.S.
- Hassles from U.S. Customs and Transportation Security Administration agents at airports.
- The global unpopularity of President Donald Trump.
At the end of the 2017 tourism season, the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum and the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum reported increases in the number of visitors from the previous year. Both have kept data on tourism numbers for years.
And Ellie Alexander, director of tourism in Pontiac, Illinois, where the Illinois museum is located, said the number of tours rose in 2017 over the previous year.
These things show the Mother Road has some resiliency.
But Alexander said in email Monday she sees possible trouble ahead.
“I’ve already been contacted by an international tour company regarding the 2019 season. They’re asking to make a lesser donation as ‘We are struggling with our UK bookings due to exchange rate and politics, etc. I hope that doesn’t prove to be a long-lasting problem.”
Hinckley offered possible solutions to stem the foreign-tourism decline:
Communities can start by tapping into a key aspect of the renaissance – personalize the invitation. Every community needs a Bob Russell in Pontiac or Angel Delgadillo in Seligman; a face, some one who can make the visitor feel like an old friend, even through advertisement.
Next, put the Route 66 network to use. Community leaders need to reach out to tour groups, to Route 66 associations. Get the community involved. We need our international visitors, and we need to make sure that they know we need them and want them to visit.
Hinckley also said Route 66 towns should concentrate more on domestic tourism.
[…] This begins with an understanding of how the domestic perception of Route 66 differs from the international perception. Next, market Route 66 as a gateway, not a destination. Picture the linear community of Route 66 in this manner, a series of links, of overlapping circles.
If we are going to keep the renaissance alive, if we are going to ensure Route 66 remains a vital part of the American narrative into the centennial and beyond, we need to be aware, we need to be involved, and we need to build partnerships. Route 66 is the crossroads of the past and future, so let’s approach problems with an eye on the future and an awareness of the past.
Roadie Scott McCoy chimed in on a similar vein, saying tours are a small piece of the tourism pie and create economic limitations to host communities:
In my experience, it’s the individual travelers that are the target market for Route 66, and not tour buses or motorcycle tours.
UPDATE: West Texas A&M marketing professor and Route 66 enthusiast Nick Gerlich weighed in today on the issue on his blog. He doesn’t think any of the above factors are the reasons for the decline. His key takeaway:
Maybe…gasp…the Route has run its course, literally and figuratively. While I certainly hope not, I understand how the popularity of destinations can ebb and flow for no reason other than “been there, done that.”
If this is the case, then I think the #tourismfail is in part due to insufficient marketing. If we are truly in the Experience Economy, then we need to be selling that experience to new generations of travelers, not just the old ones who have been coming here for years. Eventually they grow weary of the same thing, even if that “same thing” is our beloved 66. There are other things to see and do, other historic highways, beaches, the Grand Canyon, New York City, and more. Oh, and other nations. It’s not just about us or US. […]
So yeah…don’t blame guns, dollars, Trump, or the price of motorcycle hires. You know what they say about standing in front of a mirror. When you point a finger, it points right back at you.
(Image of a Route 66 motorcycle tour near Oatman, Arizona, by thelostadventure via Flickr)
I do agree it is a combination of events that cause the decline of foreign travel to here
So much is caused by misleading news and misleading facts
I do think President may have some influence on travel and again caused by the news reporting part of what is said
He is not the first President that has been quoted out of text
I see another problem is Route 66 being overtaken by growth and decline in actually still being to able to see the old route
It would be really nice if more room could have been kept clear by it
Sort of like the Alamo in Texas
A small little area overshadowed by large buildings and traffic rather than the 5 or 6 acres with the out building that once stood there
It is just hard to really step back into history with all the noise and crowding up
Having driven the full length of Route 66 in 2001 and 2006, bringing my little Fiat Panda from England to do so, then also driving on segments of “66” in California 2011, Chicago to Tulsa in 2012 and most recently California again last October (2017), I have always been aware that very many US citizens are unaware of the very existence of the Mother Road. Yes, the exchange rate Pound to Dollar has dramatically worsened following a majority vote here to leave the European Union (that did not include me), but the U.S.A still offers quite good value for money. I’ll be visiting again this coming September, hoping to see more foreign visitors.
Peter
Maybe we will run across each other at some point
You are right there are so many that do not realize what the route has to offer
May you have another great time traveling in our great country
Thanks Doc.
You must be incredibly brave Doc, willing to travel through such a war zone of a country! I commend you sir! Just don’t forget to bring your flak jacket…
It’s truly amazing how “Facebook thread” has become some sort of replacement for analytical evidence in this day and age. And as usual your bias is showing with name dropping the President. Of course liberals like you said the same thing about W. when he was Prez, but apparently in hindsight that was not the case or else these tour guides would have said something like “no cancellations since 2006” or something of that nature.
The strong dollar may be to blame more so than others, but as far as “mass shootings” and “violence,” are you saying that they didn’t care about these things in 2012? 2016? Sure… Next time please, for the sake of journalism, cut down on the anecdotal hyperbole…
The Trump aspect the violence both are factors, and have been publicly cited by prominent and longtime members of the Route 66 community, both domestic and overseas. That’s why they aren’t ignored in the report.
“I was gonna go to Italy, but I don’t like their government.” How stupid does that sound? Just as stupid as all y’all who used our Mother Road as a platform for your anti-President Trump politics. SHAME on you! Some of you have been my heroes — literally — but I’m embarrassed for you.
Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of pseudo-intellectuals, in Europe and elsewhere, who are happy for yet another excuse to blame President Trump for something, but I think they’re lying.
btw, I didn’t vote for him; I wrote-in.
Meaning, the probable backlash — that I’m just another Trump automaton — doesn’t apply.
Again, it’s a factor cited by prominent members of the Route 66 community, not me.
No one making a post has said it was the president alone that caused it yet ,that seems to be all anyone can focus on
This is not a political forum so please quit trying to make it one
Ron wrote what he saw and in no way accused the President of anything wrong anymore than he has the last one
If all you can focus on or get out of the article is the President then you have surely missed reading an interesting article
Looking at things from the UK, I do not see how any drop in foreign tourists coming to the US can not be political. Add together the not forgottten 9/11, almost frequent mass shootings, the NRA’s refusal to want any limit gun ownership, the total outdatedness of the Second Amendment, and the wild cannon that is the current president – and people I know are asking themselves why they should visit the US. Trump’s latest insular tariff war is seen as yet another anti-foreigner ploy. Regarding Route 66 itself – as commendable as pushing it is – apart from not that large a number of original buildings and odd sections of redundant concrete road, what is there for the average visitor to see? Make no mistake, I am for preserving the past; I am involved in several UK heritage steam railways. But the road itself has been superseded by multi-lane expressways and, from the videos posted here, a stretch of any one looks like any other modern US interstate: boring. Road enthusiasts may still be coming, but seemingly not the average holidaymaker; many for the reasons I have given. No doubt Sam Goldwyn has been credited with saying: “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”.
Eric,
that is because you do not understand our constitution and the rights provided us
Look at your country they started taking guns and now you are restricted to what a bullet a month unless you are among the elite
Look at the restrictions that have been imposed on the people of the UK
Government does not stop once you let them start
Maybe you should read this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_policy_in_the_United_Kingdom
That’s quite a good perception, seen from this side of the Atlantic.
I think it has all to do with the rate of our £ against your $.There are plenty articles and television programmes about Route 66 over here in Great Britain.Having done the whole trip once and half of it again folk ask me cost and when I tell them they are surprised at how cheap it is.We currently pay $10 for our gas.We also average around $70-80 per night in a Travelodge.What we need in the UK is more information about cost and ease of booking a bed for the night.
I would like to know your real name, “Doc”. However, at 77 I was first taught about the US constitution at school, and have since then had cause to study its contents when discussions about the centuries old document have arisen.
As for what “rights” the constitution provides US citizens – and, I presume, others living in the USA – these were promulgated for what obtained in 1789, not in 1889 or 1989 or 2018. Indeed, to go again to Wikipedia: “By 1816, Jefferson wrote that ‘[s]ome men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the Ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched’. But he saw imperfections and imagined that there could potentially be others, believing as he did that ‘institutions must advance also’.” Today, with international Muslim terrorism, one might compare the perceived untouchability of the US constitution with the Koran. Both are used to justify ideas quite irrational in 2018.
Having served as a regular soldier in the British army, and having legally used guns as a British civilian, I have never felt the need to keep guns around the house, a gun in my car whenever I go for a drive, or in my pocket when I walk to a shop.
As for you saying “Look at your country they started taking guns and now you are restricted to what a bullet a month unless you are among the elite”, just what “elite” are you imagining? I know very non-elite people who own guns and go shooting on a regular basis. But they keep their guns for pleasure, not because they are afraid of being attacked by their neighbours. And none of these are hand-guns.
I am very grateful that the British government has introduced the bans and restrictions it has. The Wikipedia article you cited says that there have only been three mass shootings by civilians in the entire history of Great Britain. According to The Daily Dot: “And even if you take the most restrictive definition of a mass shooting – one 2016 study counted 90 mass shootings in the U.S., total, from 1966 to 2012 – it is clear that gun violence on this scale remains a uniquely American issue.”
Each mass killing in the US makes any foreigner think twice about visiting the home of the brave and the land of the free. And thus Route 66 has seen a drop in tourists from abroad.
So many things to respond to Eric… first of all, Thomas Jefferson didn’t write the Constitution, nor did he contribute ONE WORD to the subsequent amendments. Perhaps next time cull from the archives of James Madison, the so called “Father of the Constitution?” And anyway, if you actually read the constitution you would know that if the citizens and their duly elected representatives feel a part of it to be incomplete or “outdated,” they are provided a mechanism for altering, adding, or abolishing sections – it just requires 2/3 of each chamber and 3/4 of the states. Is this allowed with the Koran? No it’s not. Try again.
So what, besides guns, is “outdated?” Freedom of speech, religion, press, or assembly? Right to due process, or to remain silent? Maybe trial by jury, or right to counsel… Separation of powers… Slavery? hmm, interesting rabbit hole to go down Sir…
Thank you, Brando V, for your comments. Did I say Jefferson contributed to the US constitution? No.
History shows that when you have a powerful group driving a political agenda, to expect change when 2/3 or 3/4 voting majorities are needed is to expect the very unlikely. But it took just one very brave American to get the law altered so that any adult can now sit anywhere in a bus in America.
Since you brought up my comparison with the Koran, had Jefferson been alive today he might well have said, “Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the Koran, too sacred to be touched’. It strikes me that the National Rifle Association and those of a similar ilk have that view about the Second Amendment.
And I see nothing about “Freedom of speech, religion, press, or assembly. Right to due process, or to remain silent. Trial by jury, or right to counsel… Separation of powers… Slavery” in the sentence “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
With the existence of the US Army, the US Navy, the US Air Force – and do not forget the US Marines and the National Guard along with armed police – all providing professionally “the security of a free state”, I see no reason for the continuance of the Second Amendment, allowing almost any amateur to be armed. Unless, of course, one is an arms manufacturer.
Coming summer we wil make a trip across Route 66 from Chicago to L.A. It wil be the fourth time, we make this trip. What surprises me is the fact, that many books focus on the 66 itself, while there are a lot of sights nearby.
Cities like Chicago, Springfield and Santa Fe, to name but a few, have a lot to offer, not just for 66 lovers. In the south-west, the Route leads you through some of the most beautiful landscapes on this planet. Can you actually imagine, people travelling all the way to Williams, AZ, and NOT see the Grand Canyon?
So, the Route is a big attraction, indeed, but it is not the only trump card in the deck.
Fred from the Netherlands.
I’m a solitary traveler and intend to hit the road sometime this Summer. I’m saddened to hear about the drop in international tourism. Some of the biggest and best Route 66 fans are from overseas. While I believe it would be difficult to ascertain (with something like scientific accuracy) how big an effect any single factor has had on the decline, I’m glad that Ron Warnick quoted other sources’ citations of the USA’s international (and appalling) reputation for gun violence and worldwide political reaction to the trumpkin’s unsavory character as possible factors. These things should be discussed openly, though not in this forum. These things mean something to the outside world and we ignore them to our detriment. Most tourists will not travel where they (think they) have to worry about their safety (or lives). We can do little or nothing about currency exchange rates or provisioners’ price-gouging (if that’s what it is) but, responding to Nick Gerlich’s suggestion, I believe we can keep the road in the fore of the public consciousness by being energetic stewards and boosters.
A well-reasoned reply. The current political administration in the U.S.A. has certainly not put me off from travelling to “our former colony”. It’s a great Country with so many pluses that far out-weigh the minuses.
I agree to perform armed escort and security services to any foreign tourist traveling on US 66. However we can’t start our escort services in Chicago anymore as it too dangerous. Will start in Pontiac, IL. Those from Australia will be supplied mucho cold beer.
Tell me. Armed Services, what professional qualifications do you have to carry a loaded weapon? Why should I feel safe anywhere in America with millions of amateur gunmen and gunwomen feeling the need to carry pistols and larger guns as they go about their daily lives? You certainly give a new twist to “escort services”. That really is a gun in your pocket, big boy.