Industry survey

Industry survey

Travel Leaders Group recently released its latest nationwide survey findings in which Australia remains the most dreamed about destination for American travelers, followed by Italy, Bora Bora, Ireland and New Zealand.

Survey participants also weighed in on how they believe Americans might be perceived while traveling abroad – 68 percent of respondents have some level of concern.

Additionally, the newly released data highlights Hawaii, California and Alaska as the most desirable U.S. destinations for vacation travelers.

The survey was based on responses from 2,854 consumers throughout the United States.

Report indicates international travel growth to the U.S.

NEW YORK

More international visitors came to the U.S. than expected in April 2017, according to a new report released last week in Washington.

The U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trends Index shows that international travel to the U.S. grew by about 4 percent in April, compared with data for April 2016.

The strong showing contradicted fears that tourism from abroad would slow in reaction to President Donald Trump’s proposed travel bans, which have been blocked by court challenges.

The Trump administration’s first ban on travel from a handful of mostly Muslim countries was issued Jan. 27. The Travel Association said any fallout from the travel bans would have begun to show up in April travel data.

The U.S. Travel Association statistics also suggest that a slowdown in international arrivals that began in the spring of 2016 may be moderating. Data from the U.S. Commerce Department has been showing a decline in international arrivals over the second and third quarters of last year. Those statistics take months to compile and will not reflect 2017 arrivals until next year.

The government data is also more comprehensive, including, for example, border crossings by car from Canada and Mexico, which the U.S. Travel Association data does not include.

It’s also not unusual for travel spending and arrivals numbers to fluctuate month to month due to seasonal tourism and other economic factors.

Study looks at Airbnb policies

Airbnb, which for years has faced accusations from renters of racial discrimination, now is confronting questions about whether hosts of the short-term rental platform discriminate against guests with disabilities.

The latest blow to the San Francisco-based home rental site comes from a Rutgers University study that found that prospective renters who identified themselves as having disabilities were more likely to be rejected for lodging than those who did not mention having a disability.

Airbnb disputed parts of the study and repeated its commitment to treating all users fairly.

Airbnb - responding to accusations of racial discrimination by hosts - required all users last year to agree to abide by a policy that forbids discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or disability.

Geography quiz

Q. The city of Dandong is at the mouth of the Yalu River on the border between China and what other country?

A. North Korea. The 3,000-foot-long China-Korea Friendship Bridge connects both countries.

Combined dispatches