U.S. Tourism has a long way ahead despite Efforts

The United States (US) has been working very hard to promote its local tourism. But, it seems that the $ 1.3 trillion income it earns, the 7.3 million direct, travel-related jobs it generates, and the nearly 50 million international visitors it attracts are still not enough. Their hard work is not resulting as expected.

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) mounted the largest gathering of travel and tourism industry players, 5,000 delegates, at the International Pow Wow '06 in Orlando, Florida recently.

1,300 buyers from 70 countries, and 3,400 US delegates converged on Orlando's Orange County Convention Center to meet and match with top airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, tourist attractions, service companies and destinations in the US.

According to Jay Rasulo, TIA national chair and chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the main objective was to create a blueprint to make the US a destination of choice.

There is no doubt that the industry is succeeding in the task of increasing the US share in the global travel market. In fact, it was already predicted by Rasulo that travel and tourism will be one of the most important industries. The industry had 49 million international visitors in 2005. This year, the industry is expected to hit 52 million visitors.

US tourism had suffered a heavy setback after the 9/11 tragedy in 2001. But, the 36 percent decline started in 1992, when world tourism was increasing. In 1992, US had a 9.4 percent of share in global tourism and today it is down to only 6 percent
It has been reported that the US bagged the third rank behind France and Spain in terms of global tourism arrivals in 2004. Last year, the figures show that international visitors spent about $ 8.7 billion a month or about 4 billion for 2005.

According to TIA president and CEO Roger Dow, the international visitors can never be satisfied only because there is still a largely untapped market out there, "The US holds 6 percent of the global market share. But while we've been recovering and growing back to record numbers, the rest of the world is growing more. We've got to step up the pace so we're not out-marketed by so many other destinations around the world,"

Presently, many steps are being taken both by the US government and the private sector to achieve that colossal goal.

Visa acquisition has been the toughest task, since 9/11, to deal in concern with the travel to the US.

Long queues of visa hopefuls are seen maximum in Philippines, at the US embassy along Roxas Blvd. in Manila.

The countries experiencing this are basically the ones who are outside the Visa Waiver Program. This program exempts 27 countries from having to obtain visas to get into the US and Philippines is not one of the 27 visa-free countries.

To have an overview of the problem, it can be said that the Bush administration is faced with two great challenges: To harmonize stricter border security while at the same time facilitating travel of visitors to the United States.

Matt Coughlin of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said, “New solutions are being either planned, pilot tested or already implemented to address the visa issues."

However, it has been reported that U.S. is now issuing more visas than were issued at the time of 9/11.

The two-fingerprint procedure that is currently a part of the procedure in the US embassies and at the US port of entries will soon be replaced by a 10-fingerprint process to ensure security.
There are also plans in the future for E-passports or a biometric passport.

To conclude, it can be said that the DHS is relying on technology to make things easier, faster and a little less stressful to international travelers.