Hilton CEO Calls Out Decline in U.S. Tourism but Sees Economic Boost

Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said Tuesday that the Iran conflict had “disrupted” the company’s hotels in the Middle East, adding “noise” to an already volatile outlook. Yet at home, he said, longer-term economic forces could overpower short-term shocks.

“Obviously, in the last week or two, the Middle East business has been very, very disrupted, as you would guess,” Nassetta said, speaking at the Punchbowl Conference in Washington, D.C. “We’ll see how long that goes.”

Rather than dwell on short-term geopolitical risk, Nassetta pointed to longer-term trends he implied would have more lasting importance.

A 30-Year Collapse

Nassetta warned that the U.S. has lost half its share of global inbound tourism in a generation.

The U.S. accounted for 10% of global inbound travel 30 years ago, he said. That share has fallen to about 5%, he said.

“If you said to me Hilton lost half its global market share, I’d have been fired a long time ago,” he