German in the USA raised tourist alarm: He is a star no one books with

"Please come back to us in Florida. We miss you and need you" – his dramatic plea to German tourists on FOCUS online over the Easter weekend caused a stir. "The response was incredible. So many contact requests in one day – that's never happened before," reports vacation home manager Marco Wischmeier, barely a week after the article was published.

"The report obviously struck a chord. All my friends, acquaintances, and relatives from Germany contacted me immediately. Everyone had read the article. The number of clicks on our homepage skyrocketed like never before. On the first day alone, there were 600 hits on our website. An American friend even read about the FOCUS online report about me in English-language media. And Sat.1 interviewed me for breakfast television."

For 17 years, Wischmeier has rented and managed 40 vacation homes in the Sunshine State, where he also works as a real estate agent. His clients and guests are predominantly German. The business employs six people. His wife, also from Germany, handles the accounting.

Due to stricter immigration regulations and the policies of Donald Trump, the US tourism industry expects a significant drop in foreign guests this year, resulting in losses of $60 to $90 billion. Wischmeier has been feeling the reluctance of Germans , including many former regulars, for weeks: There are no more advance bookings at all, the Augsburg native revealed to FOCUS online. Even his discount campaigns with massive price reductions have so far failed to convince any Germans to book.

After the FOCUS online report, he said he received dozens of emails from Germany. "Some of them were simply intended to be disparaging. There were Nazi comparisons and many insults against the US government." Nevertheless, he personally answered every single email.

Ultimately, Wischmeier said he could certainly understand the concerns and fears of potential travelers. "I then wrote to them that Florida is still beautiful – no matter who's in the White House."

Wischmeier says he's received concrete inquiries for the summer season from many German prospective buyers. However, Wischmeier admits that no firm bookings have been made yet. "People are currently unsure and want to wait and see how the situation develops. Horror stories, like the one about the two young German tourists in Hawaii, obviously don't help much," he says. The story concerns two women who were arrested after entering the USA.

When asked what he plans to do if bookings continue to fall, Wischmeier doesn't yet have a clear answer. He doesn't want to rule out further price reductions. "We can think about that in a few months. But at some point, the point will come where it becomes too cheap. Then the wear and tear and the risk will become too high. We would also like to maintain the level of service our customers receive."

For now, Wischmeier wants to wait and see before reducing prices further – and instead invest money in advertising. "We're now launching paid advertising campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. We'll see how that pans out." Fortunately, his business can survive a few months without bookings. "We've already survived an oil spill on the beaches here, many hurricanes, and the pandemic. Hopefully, we can make it through these times as well." He's trying to remain optimistic, he insists – "but if no one really wants to come to us anymore, we can't force them to."