Steve King's racist comments are costing Iowa tourist dollars [View all]

[LongTomH]

USA Today: People are cancelling their Iowa vacations because of Steve King's words:

The Iowa Tourism Office generally receives about two complaints a month from travelers who leave the state peeved about picking up a speeding ticket or dissatisfied with an unpleasant hotel stay.

But in the days following U.S. Rep Steve King's recent controversial comments, staff responded to about 60 tweets a day, not to mention emails, Facebook posts and calls from potential tourists, officials said Frida

Many would-be travelers vowed to cancel spring or summer trips to Iowa. Some longtime attendees of an annual bike ride across Iowa promised to ditch the trek after King tweeted Sunday a suggestion that Muslim children are preventing “our civilization” from being restored, officials from the Iowa Tourism Office told The Des Moines Register on Friday.

David Bernstein, a member of the Iowa Economic Development Authority board, aired the tourists' concerns at the board's monthly meeting on Friday. The economic development authority, which oversees the Iowa Tourism Office, says tourism contributes $8 billion in economic activity to the state. And Bernstein said King's statements could hurt businesses looking to woo travelers.

King, who was retweeting a message endorsing Geert Wilders, a far-right candidate who came in second during Wednesday's election for Dutch prime minister, said Wilders “understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies.” While Iowa Republicans disavowed King's statement, former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David Duke embraced the congressman's rhetoric.

Prof. Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, commented:

Good. The vast majority of Americans – including Iowans -- abhor the hatefulness Trump has unleashed and King represents. Sorry Iowa. It’s your responsibility to remove King from Congress next year. The rest of us can’t.

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