Foreign Press Bashes US Travel Experience
JANUARY 23, 2008. In a feature article that includes the admonition: "Don't go to the USA" in the first paragraph, The Sunday Times of London says: "Traveling to the US offers experiences like nowhere else on earth...Nowhere else can a visitor expect such a spirit-crushingly frosty reception. A preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage are all part of the fun. So, if Chertoff & Co. want to tighten Fortress America further, it's time we considered other more welcoming holiday options. Such as Iran or North Korea."
As this and many other foreign press articles demonstrate, negative perceptions of the U.S. entry experience are out of proportion to what travelers actually encounter. But who is telling America's side of the story? Our government is silent. The private sector, on its own, is not equipped to better communicate the latest security policies.
Because the United States has no effective communications strategy, necessary security improvements have helped create the unwarranted impression that America is no longer a welcoming nation. The result is a 17 percent decline in overseas travel to the United States since 9/11, costing America nearly $100 billion in lost visitor spending and nearly 200,000 jobs.
The Solution? The Travel Promotion Act of 2007 (S.1661 / H.R. 3232) would establish a nationally coordinated travel promotion campaign jointly managed by government and the private sector to better communicate America's travel policies and welcome foreign visitors. The legislation has the support of more than 150 members of the House of Representatives and 40 Senators.
For more information on the importance of overseas travel to the United States, visit www.poweroftravel.org/pdf/DAP_blueprint.pdf.
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