This topic was touched on last week on a CNN Fareed Zakaria special: Restoring the American Dream - Getting Back to Work.

You can watch it here.

Specifically, the segment that starts at 15:13 talks about the massive amount of international travel that's been lost to the US. Over the last 10 years the government has been focused on keeping people out of the US rather than inviting tourists. The program says there's been an estimated loss of 78 million international travelers during this time. These travelers didn't stay home, but turned to Europe and other destinations instead -- spending about $4000 on average during their trips.

The loss in jobs and revenue is so large that it's been recognized as a national problem, and the government has established the Corporation for Travel Promotion, a public/private partnership who's mission is to try to attract visitors to the US.

Personally, I think the agency will probably be successful in setting up some decent PR/advertising overseas, but if the process of getting a visa continues to remain difficult then we're not going to make much progress in attracting international tourists. One government hand will be fighting the other.