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President Donald Trump claimed that his recent takeover of the D.C. police has made residents feel safer, leading to a surge in restaurant visits. However, data contradicts this, showing a significant drop in reservations compared to last year.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that since his announcement to take over the D.C. police department, people are now more comfortable going to dinner in the District. WTOP is digging into the data that shows restaurant reservations are actually significantly down compared to this time last year.
“People that haven’t gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C. in two years, are going out to dinner, and the restaurants, the last two days, were busier than they’ve been in a long time,” Trump said Monday from the White House.
But according to the booking site OpenTable, reservations have plummeted since this time last year. The site showed that reservations on Saturday and Sunday were both down around 20% from last year.
Trump boasted the opposite, adding that he’s had people calling him saying, “Sir, I want to thank you. My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years, and Washington, D.C. is safe. And you did that in four days!”
Restaurant reservations in D.C. dropped 27% on Tuesday; 31% on Wednesday; 29% on Thursday; 25% on Friday; 20% on Saturday; and 22% on Sunday compared to last year’s reservations, according to OpenTable.
“I’m definitely concerned about it,” said Shawn Townsend, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. “This is about supporting families who rely on these restaurants to pay their rent, to pay tuition, to send their kids to college. This is more about that, and I want to make it clear that our industry is resilient.”
Townsend told WTOP the number of restaurant diners are usually low this time of year, but these numbers are especially low. He encourages people to go out for D.C.’s annual Summer Restaurant Week, adding that crime this year has been down and the restaurants are ready for diners.
“The business community, we have all been working diligently with MPD on bringing crime down due to the surge in 2023. Is our city perfect? Absolutely not. However, we have made great strides. Crime is down. Our city is safer because of the work that’s been put in,” Townsend said.
He said they’re hopeful that Summer Restaurant Week will bring in business with a record 380 restaurants participating. It runs Aug. 18-24.
“If you want to send a message to the administration and to the country, support your local restaurants this week, and for the next couple of weeks, while we have this increased presence of federal agents in our city — that’s the strongest way to send a message,” he said.
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Valerie Bonk
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