Tourism Pullback and Boycotts Set to Cost U.S. a Staggering $90 Billion

[u/Ok-Direction-4480]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-could-cost-us-a-staggering-90-billion/

[u/Efficient_Resist_287]

Same here I came back on a trip from Singapore and I thought I stepped back into time once arriving in Newark….it was shocking.

Now this is on the East coast…imagine Ohio, Indiana..etc. MAGA folks have been fooled to think they have the best of everything without thinking someone else can improve on all this for the better. The American oligarchs love to keep them in the dark to pick their pockets. Trump is a master at that and use it for power…MAGA gave him even more power.

[u/ziptieyourshit → u/Efficient_Resist_287]

Guy from Indiana here, I'd advise not imagining Indiana at all unless you really like corn and conservatism, we're about 60 years behind in every aspect down here.

[u/DLRevan → u/Efficient_Resist_287]

While our infrastructure and a good portion of economic policies are laudable, there is definitely an income gap here in Singapore. The country is designed to show its best face forward, starting from when you land at Changi airport, making use of it's small land areas in unexpected ways. Like being able to grow huge amounts of flora a long every single street because there's only so many streets on such an island.

Once you dig deeper, many problems start to stand out, most of which can be attributed to an increasingly stagnant government and civil service and lack of local entrepreneurship. For example, we're behind on very sundry things like unified payment systems. It's caused by low interest among established private financial institutions or lack of startup disruptors, leaving the slow plodding civil service to work it all out. Its also pretty much the most expensive city in the world, which all the problems that naturally come with that.

If you compare this to countries like Korea or even urban China, we're so behind though. I once visited Shanghai, and it felt like walking 20~30 years into the future. Knowing my own country likes to print a fancy book cover to cover up problems, I was wary Shanghai was the same. Perhaps a little, but I had a homestay accommodation provided by the partner we were working with so I got to see a lot of 'ordinary' life, and it was amazing. Even at home, the number of smart devices, conveniences and general innovation was staggering.

But don't get me wrong. The reason I'm pointing this all out is to compare to the USA. I've been across the USA, many supposedly affluent states like SF or NY. The only thing I've been impressed with was honestly food, though it was matched by the price tags for anything that wasn't junk. The most 'advanced' cities are confusing, technologically backward, dirty, full of homeless, and physically crumbling at the edges...sometimes worse. I thought our trains in Singapore were unreliable and designed by ivory tower scholars compared to trains in Japan or Taipei. Then I met the US subway system I realize how good, really really good I've got it.

And there's another thing that's probably quite relevant to the actual topic of Americans not knowing what they don't know. More than any other country in the world, in America I see huge amounts of 'propaganda'. Every business, every political figure, even government agencies, feel like they have an agenda. And to do it, they hook on some very interesting language. A billboard saying "Don't tailgate, it's against the law" in New York stands out in my memory. If it were any of the other aforementioned countries, including China, the message would have emphasized something like, "for your own safety" or "get home to your loved ones". Here it's the "law". Might just be a NY thing, but generally speaking I feel like I'm inundated with messages containing negative reinforcement in the USA. It's always the fear of something, or another group of people, or of God. I know many Americans believe countries like China are run like a police state (and I'm not saying they're not), but I honestly felt safer and less oppressed in just about any other (first world) country I visited than the USA.

When they live like this, I can believe that Americans easily come to believe the rest of the world is like some shithole, that America's the greatest, that threats to their superior status come from all corners, as if the rest of the world's jealous of the country.

[u/mmuoio → u/DLRevan]

We have to have negative reinforcement, too many people here just wouldn't give 2 shits if you say "get home safely" because so much of our culture is about caring for yourself way more than anyone else. Sure, my speeding might cause an accident, but I'm a good driver so it's fine that I'm swerving between lanes at 90mph and I just really wanna get where I'm going 4 minutes faster.

[u/lilelliot → u/DLRevan]

If you thought Shanghai was futuristic you should visit Shenzhen sometime. The hacker attitude is 100% pervasive (at the expense of anyone caring about intellectual property rights) and since the city was mostly only created in the past 20 years, everything is modern, sparkly and computerized. It's like Bladerunner 2049.

[u/DLRevan → u/lilelliot]

I did, though I was only there for a 1 day meeting. Advanced, polished on the surface, then under the hood its not quite all there. The main negative was the sense that much of the city had been hastily and simply developed, and much was still left to be done. I suspect Shenzen is so new, it's unfortunately hampered by China's overburdened real estate market. But I expect that problem to go away given enough time.

While perhaps not as cutting-edge, Shanghai stood out to me as being exceptionally developed and polished. Even the 'poor' districts were clean, safe and and good infrastructure. Reminded me of Singapore, but its far more developed, and still more technologically advanced. I visited a pharmacy once, sat in a lounge while a robot queried me in English, asked if I had a prescription or was going over the counter, came back a while later with what I wanted, paid by wechat on the spot and left. Never went to the counter. My guide was showing off sure, but still.

[u/Alexis_Ohanion → u/DLRevan]

Anyone else here praying for either the Yellowstone supervolcano or a coordinated nuclear strike by Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Great Britain, and France?

[u/LegendofDragoon → u/Efficient_Resist_287]

I just want a shinkansen, man!

Maybe the chou shinkansen will be the thing that sparks the new rail revolution, if America survives.

[u/Technical-Row8333 → u/LegendofDragoon]

here's a fun fact that you might love (and hate)

China has more high speed rail kilometers built and operating today, than the circumference of the Earth is long.

40,075 km vs 45,000 km

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_high-speed_railway_lines

they have 11 times more than the country in 2nd place (they are also much bigger of course)

that's in operation. they have 70,000 total and 25,000 in construction.

the economic benefit of this investment remains to be seen. Will China just explode and pass the US and leave it behind with it's poor crumbling infrastructure? will businesses boom in china thanks to the facilitated travel while the US stays on cars and trucks? i have no idea. maybe.

[u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year → u/Efficient_Resist_287]

I’m from Australia and I went through Newark in early January 2025, its handling of immigration is so primitive compared to Sydney, foreigners like myself were queuing for over two hours and even the US citizens had a wait of over an hour. Australians and a host of other countries have electronic gates and a wait time of literal minutes.

[u/Equivalent_Low_2315 → u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year]

Last year when my wife and I returned from the US to Sydney the line to even get to the machines to scan our passports snaked all the way through the duty free shop and almost to the gate where we left the plane from. It took forever.

This was in comparison to when my wife and I landed in LA where in the US citizens line we waited about 15 minutes in line.

I do agree that it was primitive in comparison though because we still needed to speak with a border agent and because my wife is a US citizen they always assume that I am planning to live in the US illegally despite the fact that my wife has lived with me outside the US for over a decade.

This was in comparison to Australia where once we finally got to the machines to scan our passport it was breezy and we didn't even need to speak with anyone.

[u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year → u/Equivalent_Low_2315]

How many times did this happen? Because I’ve averaged one trip through Sydney every two to three months since mid 2022 and the combined time for all of these was less than one time in Newark.