History and hedonism: a trip through Alabama

From Martin Luther King Jr to Mardi Gras, the quintessential Deep South state has plenty to offer in these turbulent political times

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Every year in London, there’s a huge media and trade show called World Travel Market. For a journalist like me, it’s an opportunity to sit down with representatives of locations from all around the world and plot some feature ideas and potential trips for the following 12 months. Last year, the Trump effect was on many people’s minds. There were reports of a considerable slowing of US tourism – the “Trump Slump” as some papers had it – and, rather than leave it as the elephant in the room, I asked many US travel representatives about it. Answers typically went along political lines.

Representatives of left-leaning California were critical of the president, both for his politics and his effect on visitor numbers. Traditionally Republican states adopted fixed grins and denied there was any problem whatsoever – with one exception. One very unexpected exception: Alabama.

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