US tourism industry on the decline

[TexasLawyer]

US tourism industry on the decline

Saturday 15 April 2006, 0:30 Makka Time, 21:30 GMT


Stricter visa requirements after 9/11 has
deterred tourists


Tourist operators in the United States say stringent visa requirements and criticism over the invasion of Iraq have discouraged international travellers from visiting the country. The US market share of international tourism trade is at an all-time low and has dropped 35% since 1992, according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA).

At the 2006 summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council this week, managers of tourism firms looked into the reasons behind the slump which began with what they called "the disastrous impact" of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington.

The stricter US immigration policy introduced in the aftermath of the attacks, such as stringent visa requirements and demands that foreign countries issue biometric-enabled passports, has done little to encourage tourism, they said.

The US has also been routinely fingerprinting and face-scanning foreign visitors. Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the American Chamber of Commerce, said the US must "get over the paranoia and start bringing people" to the country.

<snip>
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D06E796B-1429-4F2E-A84A-FC2114ADD8B5.htm

[Wapsie B]

1. Well the Chamber of Commerce got their boy in office.

Now they have to deal with the consequences. But it's always the little guy who gets hurt the most in all this.

[0007]

7. Right on! You'll never heard a whimper out of the Carlyle Group

or Halliburton, will ya?

[Theduckno2]

2. No surprise there.

I expect that it is getting harder to attract the brightest university students to U.S. universities also.

Bushco has long been oblivious of the dynamic nature of world affairs and is willing to blunder along a path of short term goals that lead to long term problems. Regime change in Iraq has led to the current quagmire and civil war there.

[grottieyottie]

3. You can study what you want online these days MIT

I expect that it is getting harder to attract the brightest university students to U.S. universities also.

Maybe not a degree course - but the knowledge is being shared.

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

[rodeodance]

9. Countries such as Thialand which used to come here have est. their own

PHD programs over last 10-15 years.

[NewJeffCT]

15. Yes, it is

While it turned around a bit in 2005, foreign students applying to US colleges dropped quite a bit from 2002-2004. I know of a guy from China with a green card here and making $200,000/year for a prestigious US company who recently accepted a job back in China for a Chinese company that is paying him $80,000/year. While $80,000 in Shanghai is like $400,000 or more here in terms of cost of living, this sort of thing was unheard of 5-10 years ago.

The problem is that these top students from China & India & Korea used to come here and a good amount of them stayed here in the US to fill top research, engineering & science roles. Now, those that do come are much more likely to go back to their home country when done with school.

I suspect schools like MIT, Yale, Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, etc won't ever have a problem getting top foreign students. However, the next tier of schools and lower will find it more & more difficult. Why go to my alma mater - the University of Connecticut - when you can go to Beijing University and get a great education there?

I have a bright 24 or 25 year old cousin in Shanghai that used to really want to come to the US to go to grad school. Her interest has really waned over the past few years.

[ShockediSay]

4. If I could afford it, I'd spend my time and money in a real democracy.

I'm out of money, due to health care costs due to the medical lobbies, and my ever eroding "rights" of citizenship are here.

[tanyev]

5. A PR campaign! That will fix everything!

"It needs a well funded marketing campaign, and it needs safe but welcoming borders," said Walt Disney's Rasulo.


I'd say they're just not that into us anymore.

[Vidar]

6. Half the world on no-fly list & no one can afford to drive. Go figure.

[rodeodance]

8. Chertoff and Condi actually had a conferece about this about a wk ago. It

was on c-span. after listening for about half hour about some new biocards, i gave up.

[rodeodance]

10. Our Image ambassador Karen Hughes best get buzy.

[rfkrfk]

11. tourism is dirty money

nobody I know wants to live in a tourist trap

if Europe wants to live off of trailer trash,
their decision

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. That's it. I'm cancelling my plans to visit Crawford, TX this summer.

I'll miss a trip to paradise, but what the hell......................

[FlaGranny]

13. Rather interesting when you compare it to the

southern border situation, isn't it?

[BooScout]

14. Not surprising.....

When people have a choice to travel to London, get an appointment and stand in line for a day at the US Embassy to get a visa to visit the US or hop on Easy Jet and fly to Spain, France or the rest of the world........the choice is easy. Not to mention the fact that when foreign visitors land in the US they are treated like cattle and routinely pulled aside and interrogated like criminals. Personally I'll take a cheap holiday in Spain any day.

[judaspriestess]

16. this is not a surprise

don't we want to keep everything USA? meaning we are pretty close to being isolated anyway. so whats the biggie:sarcasm:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

17. Passing through US immigration is an ordeal

I visit the US regularly to see my wife (who is a US citizen). I am usually interviewed for about 15 minutes and asked very personal questions by abrupt, rude personnel (with one exception). Due to the fact that most get the same treatment it can take many hours to pass through passport control which is quite frustrating.

It doesn't surprise me that Brits in particular are choosing to go to other destinations. Due to the EU, passing through EU countries' passport control is a doddle.

[Up2Late]

18. As we used to say when I was a kid...

...No DUH!:silly:

[kineneb]

19. even getting back in for citizens is a pain

entering the EU was easy, but coming back through US customs/immigration was a pain. Makes me just want to leave and not come back.

[admsitio]

20. paranoic and isolated USA

There is so much paranoia, usa is more isolated day by day.

[nj_democrat_rocks]

21. I am not planning a trip to europe, either.

Goes both ways, I guess. I'd rather get mugged or murdered at home, everything being equal.

[cliss]

22. When I read this article, I suddenly realized

there are so few foreign tourists here in Portland! We used to see groups of them, milling about downtown, or out & about in their tourist buses going to see Multnomah Falls, whatever.

I can't remember when I saw a tourist bus last.........weird.

There was an article in the Harvard Business Review about this. It said that after 9/11, the U.S. is experiencing a "brain drain". Bright, promising students just don't want to come here any more. They feel that Homeland Security is "oppressive", "frustrating" so they give up and go elsewhere.

And really, there are many opportunities now in other countries. Like India, even China.

The article said that THIS will blow the US's chances more than anything else.

[tom_paine]

23. Of course. People like to visit FREE nations.

Visits to Totalitarian Nations as Imperial Amerika is rapidly transitioning into, are so damned dreary.

Even though Amerika retains some of it's pre-Bush flavor, in many ways it is akin to the Brezhnev-era USSR.

I don't blame people for looking elsewhere to visit. Maybe if we restore the Old Republic, they'll come back.

[lutefisk]

24. That "reverse Midas touch" theory about Bush is true, isn't it!

Everything he has touched in his life has pretty much turned into shit. Once the corporate masters decided it was a good idea to let him get his soft, evil little hands on the Nation, we were truly doomed. Nobody even wants to come and look at us anymore!

[silverweb]

25. Imagine that!

You mean our PNAC emissaries and DHS welcoming committees aren't attracting foreign tourists in droves?

Who'dathunk? :silly:


Shit, I have to fly cross-country in a couple of months and I'm dreading it.

:(

[RawMaterials]

26. amazing since anyone with euros has 40% more purchasing

power in the us, since the green back has fallen the last 4 years.

[Stinky The Clown]

27. File this news in the 'doh! ... whooda thunk it" file