Pity poor Roger Dow. (Alas, that’s not the first time we’ve said that). As if the US Travel Association president and CEO doesn’t have enough problems trying to talk up tourism during a pandemic, now the US travel boss has the aftermath of Wednesday’s shocking insurrection in Washington DC to navigate – “disturbing actions” that he says have left USTA members “heartbroken.”
With international observers expressing shock, condemnation, and in some cases mockery, the violent riot incited by Donald Trump in support of his false claims that he won the Nov. 3 US election has clearly left America with a black eye that tourism promoters will undoubtedly find challenging to overcome.
Indeed, the entire world watched pro-Trump terrorists attack and breach the Capitol – centre of the US government, battle police, and threaten US politicians during a ceremony to certify the nation’s newly elected president, Joe Biden.
At least four people died, many – including law enforcement personnel – were injured, the national guard was called in, and a 6 p.m. curfew imposed by Washington’s mayor.
In the end, the rioters failed, except in sowing doubt about the safety and security that Americans, and potential visitors, will feel about the US.
“The behaviour we are witnessing has no place in any peaceful democracy, much less in the country that is supposed to be the foremost example of democratic principles,” Dow said in a statement as the event was still unfolding on Wednesday.
“With all our hearts, we urge the swift and peaceful end to the chaos and mayhem in our capital city… The willful disruption of our democratic transition is an unacceptable act of harm that is felt not just in Washington, but in every corner of the country.”
Later that evening, Brand USA, not surprisingly, advised Travel Industry Today that its planned Focus on Canada virtual travel trade event scheduled for next week (Jan. 13 and 14) would be postponed.
International condemnation of the Jan. 6 riot was immediate, amongst both leaders and laymen.
“If it can happen in the US, it can happen anywhere,” Gunjan Chhibber, a 39-year-old who works for an American tech company in India, the world’s largest democracy, told the Associated Press. She stayed up all night, watching and worrying at her home in Delhi as the chaos unfolded many time zones away.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel was unusually blunt on Thursday, drawing a direct line from Donald Trump’s refusal to concede his election defeat to the atmosphere that made the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters possible.
British prime minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “Disgraceful scenes in US Congress.”
“We exported so much democracy that we don’t have any left,” American-Palestinian scholar Yousef Monayyer wrote on Twitter, the social network favoured by Trump until he was locked out of it late Wednesday.
The comment joined the growing strain of sarcasm bordering on schadenfreude from those who have long resented the perceived American tendency to chastise other countries for less-than-perfect adherence to democratic ideals.
This time, however, it was an attempt by Americans to stop a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden after a democratic election in a country that many have looked at as a model for democratic governance.
“The beauty of democracy?” with a shrug emoji was the reaction tweeted by Bashir Ahmad, a personal assistant to the president of Nigeria, which has seen several coups since independence.
Several countries, both US allies and antagonists, issued travel warnings to their citizens, although with coronavirus infections soaring in the United States, arrivals from abroad are down to a trickle.
But while ally after ally expressed shock, a hopeful sign for US tourism is that they were generally followed by affirmations that US democratic institutions would withstand the turmoil.
Back at home, USTA’s Dow urged Americans to “come together to heal and move forward.
“For the sake of our country and our future!”