U.S. looks to Disney to improve image

[IDemo]

America ranked the most unfriendly to visitors in recent survey

Reuters - Updated: 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Faced with a decline in the number of overseas visitors and unpopular entry requirements, the U.S. government is turning to the Walt Disney Co. and other theme park operators to brighten the country’s battered image.

With security much tightened since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the visa and entry processes are so unpopular that the country was ranked as the world’s most unfriendly to visitors in a survey last month of travelers from 16 nations.

Last January, the government promised to work with the private sector to create a more welcoming environment without compromising security.

But the “Rice-Chertoff Joint Vision” announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has yet to become reality.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16073743/

[Solly Mack]

1. Oh? Is Disney coming up with a waterboarding ride?

Maybe Six Flags can have a Camp Gitmo play park for kids ?

Everyone is so fucking worried about America's image...

But no one wants to address the ugly at the root of that image

[Poll_Blind]

8. I hear they take your picture just as you pass out! n/t

PB

[Solly Mack]

11. Damn cameras

[hatrack]

2. Maybe a cut-out of Mickey: "Sorry, you must be THIS high to attack America!"

Cheery pastels in interrogation cells?

Goofy welcoming tourists to Customs at O'Hare and LAX?

Stencils of Tinkerbell on form letters rejecting peoples' applications for student visas and political asylum?

Fucking :silly: is what this is.

[KansDem]

18. "G-E-O...'oh, we're going to get you now!'...R-G-E...'easy, your oil is mine!'...

...W--B-U-S-H!!!"

[aquart]

3. Uh, who's going to improve Disney's image?

They're still the bastards who did Path to 9/11.

And instead of looking to do more PR (this administration's solution to EVERYTHING), how about removing some of the ridiculous, hysteria-driven obstacles to travel?

I swear to God, George Bush has a personal grudge against the travel and tourism industry.

[IDemo]

4. "It's a small, terroristic world..!.!"

[katsy]

5. Their propoganda is superficial and people know it.

The horrific warmongering actions and policies speak volumes to the the rest of the world.

This cheap tactic doesn't bring back 700K dead Iraqis, 3000 dead troops, the war profitering policies, the torture of human beings... etc.

It will take generations and consistent, meaningful, equitable policies toward our neighbors to begin to heal these wounds. Even then, why trust us when there's always a chance the neocons could grab power again.

And they think a mouse can heal our wounded image.

They're fucking crazy.

[TexasLawyer]

15. well said!

[entanglement]

6. FTA:"U.S. share in world tourism declined from 7.4 percent in 2000 to 6 percent last year"

"A one percentage point increase would mean 7.5 million additional arrivals, $12.3 billion in additional spending, 150,000 additional U.S. jobs, $3.3 billion in additional payroll and $2.1 billion in additional taxes, it said..."

[iverglas]

13. and that's while the US dollar was falling

relative to the currencies of the countries from which tourists come. A lower dollar should result in more tourism, not less.

Canada has suffered some negative effects from the rise in the Cdn dollar against the US dollar, the US of course being our major source of tourists. Apparently Cdn travel to the US has not declined -- but Cdns have the advantage of ground border crossing, which even now involves less hassle than air travel to/from the US. If and when those hassles get worse, tourism in both directions will suffer.

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060224/d060224b.htm

Travel deficit with the US highest since 1997

Canada's travel deficit with the United States reached $3.2 billion in 2005, an eight-year high. The $1.4-billion increase in the deficit was the third largest ever, 1990 and 1991 alone registering bigger gains. The soaring deficits had then been caused by higher spending in the US. In 2005, lower spending by American residents in Canada and increased spending by Canadian residents in the US were contributing factors.

Spending in the US topped the $12-billion mark for the first time, reaching $12.3 billion. The $615-million increase over 2004 was fuelled by a 7.3% jump in overnight travel to the US. Canadians took almost 14.9 million overnight trips to the US in 2005, the highest level in eight years.

Meanwhile, American spending in Canada fell to $9.1 billion, down 7.9% from 2004. A 4.6% decrease in overnight trips to Canada contributed to the drop, as only 14.4 million Americans took overnight trips to Canada.

The Canadian dollar averaged 0.83$ US in 2005, up 7.4% from the previous year and the highest level since 1992.

The 2006 figures will be interesting.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Oh this is just f'n Goofy

quack

[AlCzervik]

9. Disney will now feature a "Pirates of conflict" ride as opposed to calling

"War profiteers"

[Emillereid]

10. Good grief. We are definitely being run by infantiles!

It's our foreign policy, stupid!

[AnneD]

20. Amen!

But I think offering up this admin to the Hague for war crimes would go a long way at restoring our image. I guess I'll never make in PR, huh.

[htuttle]

12. "It's a mad house. A mad house!!"

[MasonJar]

14. The tourists might want to visit Disney, but after the obnoxious

movie they ran just prior to the election about Clinton I will never again spend one dime on any of their products.

[KansDem]

16. Well, when we've got a Mickey Mouse in the White House...

...we gotta take cues from the real thing!


...Hi, boys and girls!

[Ian David]

17. Here's the new sign at Disney Land

[momster]

19. Crowd Control and Cast Member Training

are two things Disney does really well. If they could offer that expertise to the TSA, making the visitor's first impressions of the country a positive one, that would be a great help. Instead of some tense, frowning, rude guy as your first and last American, you'd meet someone smiling, relaxed, and authoritative who encourages you to move in an orderly fashion toward your destination. I bet the lines would shorten and people would not be so grumpy. If Disney can keep people from open mutiny in ridelines during 99 degree weather, waiting two hours for two minute ride, imagine what they could do for the airports.

[KurtNYC]

24. I think the "first 100 steps in the airport" stuff is a red herring

By the time someone is here and on the receiving end of rudeness, their money is spent.

I think the real change is how we are perceived when they are at home, in their foreign living rooms watching the news. What is ruder than than the way Dubya acts toward the rest of the world? or Condi Rice?

There is a world-wide boycott of American products, brands and all things American. We are the new South Africa. Of course tourism is down here.

[3waygeek]

21. A friend of mine used to work

for Disney -- he & his colleagues lovingly referred to it as "Mauschwitz" or "Duckau". So it seems the Bushies have already borrowed a few pages from the Disney script.

[Sapere aude]

22. I remember a time I was at Disneyland in Anaheim and two girls got up to dance together.

The security guards rushed them and the girls were scared as hell and started to run. The guards ran after them and I don't know what happened but I remember the frightened, surprised look on the girls faces very well. My guess is back then they didn't want any sign of homosexuality to spoil the family atmosphere. No one knows if the girls were lesbian or not but I think people of the same sex dancing was a no no back then.

[superconnected]

23. yeah right, first they have to get through the fear and paranoia

of TSA security to board the plane to get here.

do you know how much normal crap is banned now. Bet their scared as hell to come here, and they should be. They can be arrested and thrown in guantanimo because they are foreigners, or even if they're american but look like foreigners...

Take a picture - clearly a terrorist - arrest them.

Learn from other tourists world. The US is NOT friendly to foreigners.