THE US has vowed to be more welcoming to foreign visitors after its share of international travel has plummeted 35% since 1992 to an all-time low – costing the economy $286 billion a year in lost revenue.
Washington rolled out a clutch of top-level government officials at last week’s World Travel and Tourism Council annual Global Travel and Tourism summit, a move WTTC chairman Vincent Wolfington said showed the US means business when it says it must do more to facilitate the free-flow of travel and salvage its image overseas.
US secretary of homeland security Michael Chertoff said: “The US recognises we will damage ourselves if we don’t distinguish between our large number of friends and small number of enemies.”
Cannery Row Company chief executive Ted Cannery said: “For years, the US has taken tourism for granted – it’s time we woke up.”
US officials were vociferous in their call for a more welcoming policy and a more competitive approach to tourism. Travel Industry Association of America chairman Roger Dow pointed out the US is one of the few countries in the world with no minister for tourism.
“We’re sending out mixed messages of warning and welcome,” he said.
US chamber of commerce president Thomas Donohue said the US must move quickly to get over its paranoia. “Where business travel goes, leisure and luxury travel follows. Because of US immigration laws, if the business community want to do business with the Arabs, you have to go to London.”
Tim Zagat, chairman and chief executive of Zagat Survey, said it took the September 11, 2001 attacks to make retailers, museums and restaurateurs realise they were part of the tourism sector.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Jay Rasulo said there is a need for a national tourism policy, coupled with a significant and sustainable marketing campaign. Tourism is one of the US’s biggest industries but spending falls far behind the $60 million budget of Canada.