Washington: Travel bookings to the United States fell 6.5 percent in late January compared to last year in the wake of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, according to a report. The travel restrictions apparently deterred travelers from outside the seven Muslim-majority countries hit by the ban, according to data from ForwardKeys, a travel analysis firm. Arrivals from those countries from January 28 to February 4 were down 80 percent from the same period of 2016, the report said. But bookings from Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region each fell about 14 percent, while those from Northern Europe were down 6.6 percent. (The data excludes China and Hong Kong due to the Chinese New Year holiday impact.) In addition, total international bookings for travel to the United States for the coming three months have slowed amid the continuing immigration controversy. While they are currently 2.3 percent ahead of last year, they had been running 3.4 percent ahead just eight days earlier, the report said.
