I was against a US travel boycott. Now I’m in no rush to return

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There have been some seismic weather events in the recent past, probably thanks to climate change – but there’s surely been no gust of wind to match the collective sigh of relief breathed around the world last week.

The Americans did the right thing, all of them. Democracy lives. Checks and balances are in place. The blue wave, the blue-nami, has hit. Some sort of equilibrium, or at least a halt on the downward spiral, has been achieved.

The blue wave, the blue-nami, has hit.Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSo, is it safe to go back to the US now? Is this a place you feel comfortable having a holiday?

Because tourism to the US has been suffering. By June this year, Australian travellers’ top five international destinations – Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, China and the USA – had all bounced back to pre-COVID visitor levels. Except the USA.

The country peaked at 1.09 million Australian visitors in 2018; in the 12 months leading up to June this year, only 680,000 Australians had been on a trip to the US. That’s a staggering drop, no doubt caused by multiple factors, including a strong US dollar to the AUD, though it’s hard to imagine politics didn’t play at least some part. Travellers have strong feelings about this.

I wrote a column at the beginning of this year stating why I don’t think boycotting any country, including the US, on political grounds is a good idea. To say my opinion was only mildly unpopular would be showing Trumpian levels of delusion. (It was the best opinion. People are saying there has never been a better one.)

Some even suggested I was on the Brand USA payroll, which is a drastic overestimation of both my importance and Brand USA’s budget. If the deep state really is a bald, middle-aged dad on the Central Coast then I fear for its efficacy.

Still, it went to show the abhorrence people had to the idea of visiting the US at a time when ICE was running rampant and anti-foreigner sentiment seemed so high.

So how are we feeling about the US now? Because there’s clearly been a similar sense of rejection of those policies among the American people.

The nation appears a friendlier, more welcoming place this week than it did a fortnight ago. The things that have been concerning so many of us from afar have clearly been concerning US citizens as well. This is a country that feels like it’s on our side again, like we’re friends, and so surely it’s OK to go over and say hi?

Landscapes, like Monument Valley, Arizona, are so uniquely American.iStockWith a brighter outlook, it’s certainly easier to remember what’s always been great about the US: the pop culture, the music that forms such a huge part of the world’s collective identity, the movies and TV shows we have grown up with, the big characters and tall stories. But also the landscapes, the national parks, the mountains. And the cities, the many cultures, the feeling of being at the centre of the world.

This is one of the key issues, I think, with the idea of boycotts. Things change. Democratic politics is often cyclical. The US now is still made up of the same people it was two weeks ago, who have experienced all the same things the rest of us have, only in a far more personal way.

Was it ever right to leave those people out in the cold?

Some might say, well, the boycott worked: international pressure via a dip in tourism helped sway American voters. And maybe that’s true. Though, I never saw that issue raised in the election. It seemed to be all gas prices, cost-of-living, and Republican anatomy.

And nothing has changed in the US, in some ways. If you were concerned before about the heavy-handedness of ICE – a completely reasonable position – then that issue still exists. If you view the US through the lens of its leader, that is also the same. Gun violence is still the same issue. Airfares are still high and the exchange rate, at around 69 US cents to the Australian dollar, is still brutal.

It’s hard to deny the optimism that seems to permeate this country now.iStockBut it’s hard to deny the fresh breeze that seems to permeate this country now.

The US has always been a plus-sized pantomime of heroes and villains, comical figures to boo and legends to rally behind. It’s just easier now to remember the latter, the likes of Abdul El-Sayed and Ilhan Omar, Olivia Rodrigo and Tom Morello, Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe.

Heroes, rebels, revolutionaries. Thinkers, speakers, doers. It feels less of a flex to declare your dislike now.

The US is still not at the top of my travel wish list, despite the good times I’ve had in the past, and the changes that appear to be taking place. The world is large and it contains multitudes. There are still a few square centimetres of Japan I haven’t covered. There’s intense beauty in Norway that I want to see for myself. There’s food in Mexico that has been calling my name. And there’s so much of Australia still to explore.

But I won’t be surprised if others start planning a holiday.

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