America Is Losing Its Allure To Tourists And Migrants And Hollywood Has To Take Some Of The Blame

The beautiful sounds and sights of America have been exported all around the globe courtesy of Hollywood for as long as we can remember. The image of America as one of the favorite destinations for tourists and immigrants is mainly due to the positive portrayal of American culture that the rest of the world has guzzled up for the better part of the last century.

The statistics don’t lie; with over $25 billion in revenue in 2021 alone, American entertainment is the most globally consumed form of entertainment by a mile. What happens when America’s number one marketer goes rogue? What happens when Hollywood starts shining the light on other countries?

European benefits

Where Hollywood goes, the world follows. That’s not a saying, but it should be. Over the last two decades, we have seen many Hollywood movies being shot in European cities. From Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol series shot in Prague, Braveheart, shot in the beautiful Irish villages, and the many other movies shot in Florence, Paris, Venice, and even Ibiza in Croatia.

American directors and moviemakers have been desperately looking for fresh content that isn’t set in New York’s Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, or the Bronson Canyon. This has meant that the Eiffel tower has appeared in more recent movies than the Statue of Liberty. It has also exposed the world and, more importantly, Americans to the beauties of Europe.

When all this is coupled with the fact that America has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last few years, the results have been expected; more people are visiting and migrating to Europe from America. Europe has been marketed as the place to go to get a breath of fresh air.

According to Kareem Dus, CEO of Favisbook, “Since 2017 when we launched the business and started offering our services to American travellers to Europe, it has become clear that the number of Americans choosing European cities to vacation in, or move to is steadily increasing. At this rate, America’s allure as the most desirable place to live will slowly be eroded.”

Dus started the New York-based Favisbook in 2017 when it became apparent that no businesses were solving the huge problem of expediting European visas. With the exploding number of annual European travelers, Favisbook seemed like a no-brainer to Kareem, and the company’s success since then has proven him right.

Celebrities Are Paving The Way

It’s common knowledge that previously top celebrities, rising stars, and aspiring entertainers wanted to acquire a slice of LA property. As it stands, many celebrities are choosing to invest in real estate in European countries.

The number of Hollywood celebrities that live as far away from Hollywood as possible is growing annually and include some of America’s most recognizable stars; Europe seems to be the destination of choice for most of them.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s purchase of the Chateau Miraval in France was all the rave for a few years until their split. They made the mansion their primary residence for so many years, and since their split, Angelina has gone on to purchase a few more properties in England, where she now spends most of her time.

Hollywood Royalty, Johnny Depp is another A-lister who spends most of his time between Saint-Tropez, the French Village he purchased in 2001, and his private Caribbean Island. The list is endless, from Madonna to Halle Berry and Gwyneth Paltrow.

While these celebrities might just be trying hard to stay away from the famed American media and paparazzi, the effect is felt at every other level of society.

In the words of Dus, “Hollywood is giving the nod to Europe in multiple ways and the effect is that young Americans are choosing European schools to study in, they are choosing to vacation in European cities and even executives are hustling for jobs in European companies. Everyone is looking for the European experience that Hollywood seems to so clearly endorse. The problem is that without the kind of money that A-listers have available, moving to Europe is not a walk in the park.”

It’s pretty easy for Americans to travel to Europe as tourists. This is little wonder why countries like France, Italy, and Spain are raking in the tourism dollars from American tourists. However, migrating to European countries is not as easy. There is little to no infrastructure to assist Americans with booking consulate appointments or acquiring visas, probably because the trend of migration from America to Europe has gone largely unnoticed.

Dus admits to being alerted to this lack of infrastructure when a friend lost a job offer from a company in Paris because she couldn’t schedule a visa appointment in time. This disappointment planted the first seeds for Favisbook.

Considering all these indices and how vocal American celebrities now seem to be with their criticism of the country, it’s little wonder why Americans choose Europe. Veteran comedian Steve Harvey was recently seen publicly dissuading young African migrants from choosing America. Steve Harvey cited America’s racial tensions as a critical reason for them to stay in Africa.

So is Hollywood giving up on one of their most sacred roles? What happens if one of America’s fiercest defenders suddenly is not so keen? There probably are no answers to these questions, but it certainly does raise some concerns worth looking into.