Federal Reserve Beige Book chronicles drop in tourism from Canada across diverse U.S. regions
ca.finance.yahoo.com
Canadians’ ongoing boycott of travelling to the United States is showing up in the U.S.
Federal Reserve‘s real-time snapshot of the
American economy, which one economist called a “really big deal.”
The Fed’s Beige Book, released on Wednesday, includes reports from cities across the U.S. that say Canadian travel has noticeably fallen off in many regions across the country.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Beige Book replete with so many comments about not just a Canadian boycott, but an international boycott against travel to the United States,” David Rosenberg, founder of Rosenberg Research & Associates Inc., said.
The Beige Book, which he called “the most comprehensive qualitative analysis on the U.S. economy,” provides a snapshot of the 12 Fed districts. The information is anecdotal, gathered from businesses and community leaders, and provides a way to keep an eye on the economy from the ground up. It also provides insights into emerging trends ahead of incoming data that can be backward-looking.
“Both
leisure and business travel were down, on balance, and several districts noted a decline in international visitors,” the Beige Book’s national summary said.
Tourism operators in nine of the districts reported a noticeable decline in travel by Canadians.
“Travel from Canada declined noticeably, and contacts feared that summer travel from Europe and China could suffer as well because of negative reactions to U.S. tariff policies,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston said. “More broadly, tourism contacts expressed concerns that declining consumer confidence could hurt leisure spending.”
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said: “Tourism contacts also reported declines in Canadian travellers and related spending; a North Dakota retailer saw a ‘deep impact’ starting in mid-February, pushing first-quarter revenues down seven percent.”
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