I found the article and the statistics very interesting. Especially the fact that even though China and India do not make up the top ten tourists in terms of numbers, they are in the top 10 spenders.

Also, there is some intense discussion among the readers on how welcoming the US is, specifically the CBP, TSA and the State Dept Embassies.

America dusts off its welcome mat. Courtesy: CNN.com

I don't buy the whole premise of America losing tourists because the TSA/CBP is a PIA for foreigners. Maybe here and there (and of course on FT). But I would wager 99.5% of foreign tourists don't think You know I'd love to see the Grand Canyon, but darn it that TSA sure is annoying, I'll go to Canada instead.

I'm not so sure. I don't think it's quite that "because of TSA, I will go to Canada instead," but rather repeated hints from the news, popular culture, and personal interactions that people come to internalize the idea that the U.S. is an unfriendly police state, so they don't want to go there.

Like in the advertising industry, which tries to reinforce a brand image through repeated, sometimes subtle, impressions, the same thing can happen in reverse to create a negative image of a product. I wouldn't be surprised if that is happening to the U.S.

It's not just TSA. In fact, I'd say TSA for a lot of people only comes into play when they try to get out of the US again. Though TSA is mandating its ridiculous checks at non-US airports for US-bound flights, too, so I guess they are a pain in the ɑss before you even get on the plane in your country of origin.

Anyway. It's a generally unwelcoming attitude that manifests itself in treating every non-citizen arrival as a criminal from the moment they try to enter the country by requiring fingerprints. But even before that, unless you're one of the lucky few*) who can get in without a visa (VWP), you have a lengthy process of trying to get a visa to go through. I'm told this has finally been fixed, but it used to be you couldn't get in if you had AIDS unless you lied on the CBP form. And currently VWP folk have to pay $10 to get an ESTA approval, which doesn't even guarantee the ability to enter the country.

I've found most Americans to be very welcoming of foreigners on holiday. The same can not be said of their government.

*) Currently, citizens of 36 countries. ISO currently defines 248 country codes.

I live in Vancouver.

Anecdotal to be sure, but I do know that my car-based tourist visits to the USA are way down, due almost exclusively to the CBP experience.

It's the same with all my friends and family - We just stay in Canada. What would have been a weekend visit to the San Juans becomes a weekend visit to the Gulf Islands. What would have become a weekend in Portland becomes a weekend in Victoria.

Police state? Yea you're right, asking to take your shoes off at the airport is just like living in N. Korea or Iran.

Being forced to choose between a virtual strip search and sexual assault as a condition of flying is a step in the direction of North Korea or Iran.

Yes because we the people who get attracted pay for it when we have to fill out the ESTA form.

I also live in Vancouver, typically travel to the US two or three times a year. For me the hassle of TSA, CBP and lousy airlines is a major deterrent and has definitely reduced the number of my visits by both land and air. The reason I go to the US is not because I want to, it's because there's no practical alternative most of the time. (There are no palm trees in Canada and I don't care for Mexico or Cuba!)

And I don't see it getting any better.

That was hyperbole reflecting, possibly, some people's perceptions. But it's hard to deny that security and immigration are much more intrusive and less friendly in the U.S. than in many real police states.

Wasn't North Korea just appointed as chair of nuclear disarmament or something? That's eerily similar to the TSA self governing its own security..

Wow, never realised the world was so small! If you are prepared, in theory, to travel as far as Cuba or Mexico, there are literally dozens of islands in the Caribbean.

On the original point - I have (largely) had quite pleasant interactions with US immigration. The one notable and consistent exception is the person that organises the queues - they are always rude, abrupt and shouty.

TSA, on the other hand, can be very rude - particularly if you dare to forget that US security controls are different to many other parts of the world - e.g. you have to show ID to go airside, show your boarding pass to someone before going through the metal detector, keep hold of you boarding pass as you go through the detector to show it again to someone else 2 yards away, in case you've become someone else in the process of being scanned, take your shoes off, etc. etc.

Does it put me off visiting the US? No. But the daft system for transit pax - i.e. no airside transit, have to collect bags, go through customs, and enter country does put me off ever connecting there.