Newsstand - As world tourism booms, the U.S. falls behind

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/13/business/tourism.php

WASHINGTON As international travel booms, the United States is fast losing market share - as well as potential tourist dollars - in large part, industry executives say, because for many non-Americans, it has become simply too much of a hassle to get into the country since Sept. 11, 2001.

The U.S. travel and tourism industry wants to change that.

The U.S. travel and tourism industry wants to change that.Good Luck!

A few ideas for starters:

Stop fingerprinting legitimate visitors as if they were criminals.
Keep the TSA from rummaging in my checked bags in my absence.
Get rid of the water ban (or at least allow reasonable exceptions).

A few ideas for starters:

Stop fingerprinting legitimate visitors as if they were criminals.
Keep the TSA from rummaging in my checked bags in my absence.
Get rid of the water ban (or at least allow reasonable exceptions).


Don't worry! They will soon fingerprint both hands ^ :td: , the Great Water Ban will spread across all of Europe (courtesy of our caring friends in the U.S. and the U.K.), and why would worry about TSA and others searching your bags if the airline will eventually lose your luggage, anyway? :D

See, all is good. Now feel safe and travel.

If the USA loses 100% of its tourism, that is okay if no American is harmed or if no flight into the country is hijacked or otherwise harmed.

(Sure this is the extreme exaggeration, but it's how it feels after non-US passport holders are 'randomly selected' only after TSA officers see our passport is not a US passport).

[wah wah rant...] A water ban, fingerprinting, photographing, intrusive bag searches (including wrecking my wife's wedding dress) are all okay - just accept the loss of some proportion of leisure travellers annoyed by the intrusiveness of these checks. There are plenty of other places to go, without this much hassle.

Blame someone but not the poor schmucks who have to go through all of this, thanks for listening [/rant] :D

If the USA loses 100% of its tourism, that is okay if no American is harmed or if no flight into the country is hijacked or otherwise harmed.

None of the tourist harassment mechanisms will guarantee even that.

I hope the tourism industry is successful in getting rid of the hateful harassment that guests receive at our nation's borders and airports.

I'm tired of some people's irrational fears destroying our civil liberties and our history of welcoming guests and prospective new citizens into this nation with open arms.

Of 808 million international travelers in 2005, 6.1 percent traveled to the United States, putting it behind France and Spain, according to Commerce Department data....We actually have a 17 percent decline in travel from overseas...As international travel boomsIt's interesting that the article makes a comparison between "overseas" travel to the US and "international" travel worldwide.

Is this just laziness? If so, then the claim is probably accurate.

If the wording is intentional, then it's a false comparison of 2 different things. I'd hazard to guess that with high fuel prices, of course there's more international travel between small neighboring countries than travel across the ocean.