TravelPulse Podcast: President Trump’s Potential Travel Industry Impact

Trump said on Thursday that Taiwan had taken away the US chip business and said that he wanted it back in the country. Taiwan’s TSMC is the world’s largest chipmaker and produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia.

On January 20, 2025, the US Department of State stopped processing passport applications and issuing new passports with the marker X, which denotes unspecified or other gender identities, as well as passports with gender markers that do not match the applicant’s sex assigned at birth.

There is increasing uncertainty regarding Austria's government formation, as coalition talks between the far-right FPÖ and conservative ÖVP appear to have stalled.

The EU’s long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) is scheduled to finally come into force in 2025.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has said that "cocaine is no worse than whiskey" and that it is only illegal because it comes from Latin America.

The US Travel Association warned that the Trump Administration’s tariffs on Canada could impact Canadian visitation to and spending within the United States, with even a 10 percent reduction in Canadian travel leading to a loss of 14,000 American jobs and $2.1 billion less in spending. 

Welcome back to the TravelPulse Podcast!

On January 23, North Carolina Congressman Addison McDowell, along with a few other House Republicans, introduced a bill that would rename Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport after President Trump, which, if signed into law, would be renamed Donald J. Trump International Airport. 

Warm weather destinations like the Caribbean are proving popular, in part because of the freezing winter temperature in parts of the US. (Source: Nicole Edenedo)

Just days after President Donald Trump took office for the second time, he signed an executive order making it U.S. government policy to only recognize male and female sex. Quickly thereafter, the U.S. State Department suspended the processing of passports for applicants who selected “X” as their preferred gender. Now, the State Department has also removed the letters «TQ» from its official travel website, which now reads, «LGB.» 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić says that Prime Minister Miloš Vučević's resignation on Tuesday could lead to an early parliamentary election or to the ruling majority trying to form a new government.

Americans voted, and Donald Trump is President once again…so what does it all mean for the travel industry?