Dan Peltier

Some U.S. travelers will always want to stay close to home, regardless of the state of the world. Road trips to visit nearby friends and family continue to be the foundation of most American trips, and that will likely be the case again this year.

Some destinations are still early to the party in harvesting data from residents and travelers on tourism trends and impacts. Many have plans with how to use the information they've gathered but how that information is shared with local politicians and residents is still a work in progress.

We won't call it a Trump bump but we do see some kind of increase occurring in international visitor spending so far this year. But spending seems to be down since February. The Summer travel season should provide more clarity.

Mayors have power to dictate how a city positions itself for tourism. Orlando and Birmingham's stories are ones where the mayors entered office admitting their cities weren't being smart about tourism and they improved their marketing strategies from there.

The Cayman Islands feels its new meal-kit campaign is new and exciting, and in many ways it is. It's refreshing to see a tourism board take a novel approach to reaching consumers and there will be a lot to learn in how consumers will respond.

Skift's data show many U.S. adults weren't planning an international trip this year even with a stronger dollar, but for those who were a more favorable exchange rate largely wasn't a make-it-or-break-it factor in the decision process.

This isn't the worst-case scenario for Cuba that some U.S. travel brands had feared but it is a step backward and doesn't offer any clear glimpse of a path forward.

The U.S. vacation deprivation phenomenon is a nationwide, coast-to-coast problem but seems to be especially apparent in large east and west coast markets that are often the bread and butter of many travel brands' business.

U.S. tourism job growth is already projected to be smaller than the rest of the world without the full impact of some of the Trump administration's policies. The travel industry is asking for a seat at the table to convince Washington why that means bad news.

These are the hospitality trends we were talking about this week.