"US war on terror is a war on tourists, too......

[madrchsod]

"America is rated the world's most unfriendly destination for foreign travellers in a recent global poll. The War on Terror (which includes a $15 billion fingerprinting program that humiliates every visitor to America's shores and has yet to catch a single terrorist) has destroyed America's tourist industry, killing $94 billion worth of tourist trade, and 194,000 American jobs.....


According to the blueprint overseas travel to the US has slumped 17 per cent since 2001, even as world travel to other countries reaches historic growth levels. The decline has cost US$94 billion ($127 billion) in visitor spending, US$16 billion in tax receipts, and some 194,000 American jobs. Many poll respondents said that visiting the US had become a hassle and that they would take their holiday money elsewhere..."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10436518
America's war on tourists - 28 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: World / International News

http://boingboing.net/
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

"back in the ussr-oh how lucky...."

[spinbaby]

1. Darn right

I know Brits who sold a Florida time share over this. Meanwhile, the dollar is so weak, we can't AFFORD to go visit them.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. I don't like travelling overseas any more because it means going through US immigration

And I'm a passport-carrying citizen! A friend of mine, a UK citizen with a US green card, left to visit family in Britain once since 9/11 and was harassed so seriously when he returned, he's been afraid to leave again.

I shudder to think of what actual foreigners have to face.

[wake.up.america]

3. I don't like travelling to the States any more because it means going through US immigration

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. It's been great here for New York City

No shortage of tourists coming to gawk at 'Ground Zero'.
Hotels are getting top dollar for rooms ($400 to $500 not atypical)-
New hotels going up left and right to match the condo tower boom.
One hell of a bonanza here, (unfortunately).

[europegirl4jfk]

5. That's so true

I visit the USA relatively often and going through immigration gets more and more uncomfortable. It's becoming a nightmare. Not only that they fingerprint and iris scan us now. They ask a lot of questions and just saying that you come for vacation is suspicious (WTF?). When I went to Boston two weeks ago and the guy who checked my passport saw that I had been to Boston twice before in the last 7 months he didn't want to believe me that I just visited friends. My travel behavior wasn't "normal" for him and I really was afraid he would send me back to Europe.

But I was lucky. Much luckier than a 17 year old high-school student from my town in Germany who just wanted to learn English and stay with a host family for 3 month. I read her story in the newspaper the other day. When she arrived in Dallas she was treated like an illegal immigrant, jailed for one night and send back to Germany the next day. Her host family waited for her in vain at the airport, and she didn't even have the right to contact them or her family. How horrible must this experience have been for such a young girl? Unbelievable!

Do they really believe that all Europeans want to live in the USA? Or that we are all terrorists? There are less and less people from here applying for a Green Card now. You know what? The USA seems to be more and more like East-Germany under Communism. My parents went to Berlin in the 70s and had to cross East-Germany. Their account frightened the hell out of me and I never wanted to go to an East European country as long as the communist regimes were still in place. It's a shame that we should almost feel the same today when we come to America.