Pam put together an interesting post over on Blogher. It's titled Roundup: Treating Tourists Like Criminals Hurts US Tourism. Duh
I wandered through what she had written and selected snippets to post on over here.
Reuters is running a story titled U.S. is most unfriendly country to visitors: survey .
Sadly my personal response to the draconian measures imposed on incoming foreigners to the U.S are more generally representative than some people seem to realise.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rude immigration officials and long delays in processing visas have turned the United States into the world's most unfriendly country for international travelers, according to a global survey released on Monday.
The survey showed that the United States was ranked "the worst" in terms of visas and immigration procedures by twice the percentage of travelers as the next destination regarded as unfriendly -- the Middle East and the Asian subcontinent.
The survey, of 2,011 international travelers in 16 countries, was conducted by the polling firm RT Strategies for the Discover America Partnership, a business-backed group launched in September to promote travel to the United States and improve the country's image abroad.
Public Diplomacy Watch writes, The TTAB's report says that the United States' declining share of the global international travel market since 1992 - down 35 percent since 1992, from 9.4 percent that year to 6.1 percent now - represents a loss of some $286 billion in economic growth.
While global travel has grown by a fifth, the the US travel industry’s share of the world tourism market has shrunk by a third, from 9% to 6%.
What people need to realise it's not because I like American people any less, it's actually about what experience I want my tourist dollar to pay for and it's certainly not, 'let's pretend the police have arrested me' on arriving in the States.
7 comments:
I'll pick up anyone who braves Seattle customs in an orange jumpsuit that says "Tourist" on the back.
LOL, much as I'd love to make the statement I'm not sure I have the courage ... rumour has it, those immigration folk, with the added power of Homeland Security, don't have too big a sense of humour.
I think if you smile and let them feel your boobies, everything goes just fine. Asking them if they want to sniff your shoes, however, is not advisable.
I snorted with laughter when I read your comment, v-grrl. I don't usually snort but so unexpected was the rush of humour I experienced after reading your words, my nose wore it.
I got done both ways in Spain. Explaining it was my boots that set of the alarm (as happened in Istanbul where immigration people are so much nicer) and that I would remove them served no purpose, my 'boobies' were duly felt.
Dear God, who thinks your views are not generally representative?
Have you found anyone who agrees with this stuff?!?
They're not finger printing yet, that I've seen, that's for this year, is that what you read? I'm simply hoping it winds up with the Mexican wall -- a nice try that makes it to action.
The real issue is that normal, innocent travellers are regularly subjected to pointless "security" procedures which would not stop determined terrorists. E.g. no nail clippers (not allowed), when a ballpoint pen (allowed) can be more lethal.
The immigration guys are probably just doing what they've been told to do - but the enduring impression that one gets is that people are dying to go an d live in the U.S.
This is certainly not true for Canadians.
The last time that I drove down there, I vowed to try my best to make it my last visit. My kids (all Canadian citizens) were woken up at 1am just to go and sit in the room while my partner filled out some forms. Just because.
With the way things are going, I personally think that this "border security" is intended to figure out how to keep Americans inside the US borders - rather than to keep others out.
Hey w-w, I have found one who disagrees with this stuff and delayed releasing his comment ... I thought it would arrive here but it's obviously gone to another post on the same subject.
I don't know if they're fingerprinting yet, I'm still responding to the news of a 10 finger record. Let's hope it falls through.
Hi anonymous ... whatever the goal of this border control is, it's going to achieve a massive drop in tourists who won't want to factor criminal processing into their holiday plans. I'm horrified by what they do to Canadians ... ahhh but perhaps it was a response to the spy coin scandal.
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