Tourists to U.S. weigh cheap dollar with entry hassle

reuters.com

"I hate going through the airports here, it takes such a long time and they make you feel like a terrorist."

Jose Cagliardo of Santiago, Chile, visited Manhattan on business recently, but he would have avoided the trip -- and the hassles of tight U.S. security measures -- altogether if he could.

Many international travelers are shunning America and the entry process Cagliardo complained about, even as the weakened dollar makes the United States a cheaper place to visit.

Visits by international tourists to the United States, excluding travelers from Mexico and Canada, started declining after the September 11, 2001, attacks and are still 17 percent lower than in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Although arrivals from Mexico and Canada actually increased in 2006, visitors to the United States from overseas remained stagnant at about 22 million.

Overseas tourists are important to the travel industry because they tend to stay longer and spend more money than those from Mexico and Canada, said Marlene Colucci, executive vice president for public policy at the American Hotels and Lodging Association.

Even with the depreciating U.S. dollar making the United States a more affordable place to visit, the Commerce Department does not expect overseas travel to the United States to reach pre-September 11, 2001, levels of about 26 million arrivals until 2010.

"Post-9/11 we've put many reasonable security measures in place, but we can't forget they're barriers and barriers naturally lead to a decline in travel," said Geoff Freeman, executive director of Discover America Partnership, an organization that promotes international travel to America.

Declining overseas visitors to the United States means America's share of the world travel market is getting smaller. Since 2001, the United States has gone from raking in 15.6 percent of international tourism receipts to 11.7 percent in 2006.

ATTRACTING TOURISTS

"The U.S. is not considered to be the number one travel destination like it used to be," said Christopher Pike, a senior consultant at Global Insight, a consulting firm that analyses tourism patterns.

Europeans are expanding their horizons and journeying more to exotic places like Dubai, China, and Turkey for their vacations, Pike said.

To get a bigger slice of the international pie, Discover America is lobbying Congress to pass the Travel Promotion Act, a bill that would establish a nationally coordinated campaign to promote travel to United States and educate people about visitor entry and security policies.

Increasing international travel to the United States would not only boost the U.S. tourism industry, but also help our image abroad, said Steve Porter, the Americas president of Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC and chairman of Discover America.

"The best way for the world to understand America is to meet Americans," Porter said.

In the past there has been an inherent belief in Congress that America does not need to put much effort into attracting international tourists, but that is not the case now, Pike said.

"America isn't just a place people are going to go to because we're America," he said. "We need to market ourselves just like everyone else."

Printable Version | published Nov 28, 2007

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