Thread: Congress Tries to Attract Foreign Tourists to U.S.

Congress Tries to Attract Foreign Tourists to U.S.
Thursday, 25 Feb 2010 10:58 PM

Millions of foreign tourists are shying away from U.S. destinations, a trend that Congress hopes to reverse in a travel promotion act it passed Thursday.

The Senate voted 78-18 for the legislation, which sets up a nonprofit corporation for travel promotion tasked with assuring potential visitors that they will be welcomed, helping them with paperwork and informing them of the many American places of interest outside the usual tourist destinations. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Obama voiced support for the bill during a recent trip to one of those tourist destinations, Las Vegas, to show solidarity with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who faces a tough re-election campaign. Reid has been a chief backer of the legislation.

Costs for the program would be divided equally between the government and private industry, with Washington contributing up to $100 million a year. All that money would come from a $10 fee levied on travelers from the 35 countries, mostly in Europe, participating in a visa waiver program. The United States now requires people who don't need visas to register online at least 72 hours before travel and to renew their registration every two years. They would have to pay the new fee when they register.

Supporters denied that this could discourage possible visitors, pointing out that most countries charge $25 to $50 in exit and entry fees and that $10 is insignificant compared to the average $130 cost of obtaining a visa. The fee, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., won't "deter or diminish the appetite of those who want to come here."

Dorgan and another chief sponsor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., cited figures showing that the average overseas visitor to the United States spends $4,500 and estimates that the new tourism campaign could generate 40,000 jobs in the first year.

The U.S. Travel Association, in a report compiled with Oxford Economics, pointed out that while worldwide international tourist arrivals jumped from 682 million in 2000 to 880 million in 2009, arrivals in the United States declined, from 25.9 million to 23.5 million, in that period. Visits from Canada and Mexico are not included in those totals.

The report said the failure of the United States to keep pace with the world's growth in international travel has translated into $500 billion in lost spending, 441,000 lost jobs and $32 billion in lost tax revenue.

Among the reasons for lagging behind are increased security procedures after the Sept. 11 attacks that have made visa applications more arduous and airport screening more intimidating. "We've got to overcome the perception that has built up of Fortress America," said Roger Dow, president and chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association.

After Sept. 11, Dorgan said, "a lot of people thought they were not welcome in America."

Equally important, they said, is better marketing of the many attractions America has to offer. While nations such as Greece, Mexico, Malaysia and Australia in 2005 had travel promotion budgets exceeding $100 million, U.S. efforts to entice foreign visitors were limited to those states with travel offices in overseas capitals.

Republican Sen. John Ensign, a backer of the bill with his fellow Nevadan Reid, cited the example of the TV ads running during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. "I didn't really think about going to Vancouver or British Columbia. But those ads spurred my interest in it and I'm sure they have many Americans and other people around the world."

The House passed the bill last October, 358-66.

http://newsmax.com/US/US-Travel-Promoti ... /id/350988

Tragically Osama Bin Laden has succeeded in disrupting the U.S. economy in so many ways, of which this is one, just as the violence of the Mexican Drug Cartels will destroy the excellent and legitimate foreign tourist business which Mexicans have spent years cultivating and building if it is allowed to continue. Mexico used to be such a wonderful place to visit -- warm, friendly, and gracious -- and for far less cost than most other destinations.

If we continue to lose our manufacturing base then tourism will be our only source of income perhaps we could fence in DC and allow visitors from other countries (for a fee) to watch our congress make fools of themselves.

You Know You are a Third World CrapHole when you Need to Attract Tourist Dollars...lmfao

What a Global Embarassment the political scumbags have made of this once great nation...Its like a macrocosm of how New Jersey people felt about their state vs. the entire United States...

Are you pissed off enough yet to do something about our country going down the toilet yet or do you want to serve tropical drinks to rich foreign tourists hoping they drop you a fiver for a tip?

This is a bunch of crap. This is creating yet another "not-for-profit" organization to advocate violation of US immigration law. Don't you see? They're setting it up so all you have to do is "register" to visit the US and you're inside the US on a tourist visa and will never have to leave. And don't you find it odd that they don't count international travel from Mexico and Canada, the 2 largest sources of international "visitors" to the US which would have shown we had an increase in travel, not a decine?

This Congress is the stupidest bunch of idiots to ever walk the soil of the United States. Every member of the US House of Representatives that supported this bill needs to be thrown out of Congress in 2010 and every member of the US Senate who supported this bil needs to be thrown out of the US Senate in 2010, 2012 and 2014. They're not competent enough to represent the best interest of the United States or the American People.

The Senate voted 78-18 for the legislation, which sets up a nonprofit corporation for travel promotion tasked with assuring potential visitors that they will be welcomed, helping them with paperwork and informing them of the many American places of interest outside the usual tourist destinations. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Too bad these traitors cannot come together and pass E-Verify with a 78-18 vote! Since when have foreign tourists ever had a problem figuring out how to get to this country!!!!!

It's leaving they have had the problem with! What is this non-profit ( can only imagine who will be running this organization) going to do about that!

These traitors cannot get them in here fast enough!

Originally Posted by NoBueno

The Senate voted 78-18 for the legislation, which sets up a nonprofit corporation for travel promotion tasked with assuring potential visitors that they will be welcomed, helping them with paperwork and informing them of the many American places of interest outside the usual tourist destinations. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Too bad these traitors cannot come together and pass E-Verify with a 78-18 vote! Since when have foreign tourists ever had a problem figuring out how to get to this country!!!!!

It's leaving they have had the problem with! What is this non-profit ( can only imagine who will be running this organization) going to do about that!

These traitors cannot get them in here fast enough!

Exactly. Now they've got an organization they can appropriate and grant money to legally to pay for their plane tickets to come here. That's next ... wait and see. "well if we buy their plane tickets or $1000, then they'll spend the other $3,500 here." Just wait and see. This is not at all what its purported to be. It's a vehicle to flood this country with illegal aliens bringing them in on tourist visas.

Originally Posted by Judy

Originally Posted by NoBueno

The Senate voted 78-18 for the legislation, which sets up a nonprofit corporation for travel promotion tasked with assuring potential visitors that they will be welcomed, helping them with paperwork and informing them of the many American places of interest outside the usual tourist destinations. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Too bad these traitors cannot come together and pass E-Verify with a 78-18 vote! Since when have foreign tourists ever had a problem figuring out how to get to this country!!!!!

It's leaving they have had the problem with! What is this non-profit ( can only imagine who will be running this organization) going to do about that!

These traitors cannot get them in here fast enough!

Exactly. Now they've got an organization they can appropriate and grant money to legally to pay for their plane tickets to come here. That's next ... wait and see. "well if we buy their plane tickets or $1000, then they'll spend the other $3,500 here." Just wait and see. This is not at all what its purported to be. It's a vehicle to flood this country with illegal aliens bringing them in on tourist visas.

Your exactly right Judy! Setting up a non-profit under the guise of promoting tourism sounds so benign that most Americans will not even give it a second thought. Ho much money is our government going to grant to this non-profit and what will that money be used for?

And what paperwork would a foreign tourist need to come to this country? What exactly are they applying for, especially since they can simply go to any American Embassy in their country of orgin and apply for a tourist visa to come to this country. Apparently, the US is quite liberal in handing those out.

The transparency here is laugable!

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Originally Posted by Judy

Originally Posted by NoBueno

The Senate voted 78-18 for the legislation, which sets up a nonprofit corporation for travel promotion tasked with assuring potential visitors that they will be welcomed, helping them with paperwork and informing them of the many American places of interest outside the usual tourist destinations. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Too bad these traitors cannot come together and pass E-Verify with a 78-18 vote! Since when have foreign tourists ever had a problem figuring out how to get to this country!!!!!

It's leaving they have had the problem with! What is this non-profit ( can only imagine who will be running this organization) going to do about that!

These traitors cannot get them in here fast enough!

Exactly. Now they've got an organization they can appropriate and grant money to legally to pay for their plane tickets to come here. That's next ... wait and see. "well if we buy their plane tickets or $1000, then they'll spend the other $3,500 here." Just wait and see. This is not at all what its purported to be. It's a vehicle to flood this country with illegal aliens bringing them in on tourist visas.

Your exactly right Judy! Setting up a non-profit under the guise of promoting tourism sounds so benign that most Americans will not even give it a second thought. Ho much money is our government going to grant to this non-profit and what will that money be used for?

And what paperwork would a foreign tourist need to come to this country? What exactly are they applying for, especially since they can simply go to any American Embassy in their country of orgin and apply for a tourist visa to come to this country. Apparently, the US is quite liberal in handing those out.

The transparency here is laugable!

It truly is. These con artists pick the feathers off these ignorant Congresscritters using our money to do it with such skill it makes the Third Reich look incompetent.

But, the only time you can fool an American is when we're not paying attention. Well, we're paying attention now.

These bastards are allocating $100 million to this "not-for-profit" to spend at will. Next year it will be $200 million and then $500 million and then $1 billion. You wait and see. The airline industry has already got their hands in that entity and funding for "international discounts" which is how it starts out, then full fare discounts for "groups" of 20 or more. Wait and see. Not only will government appropriations be used, but because it's a "not-for-profit tax-exempt entity", all the Globalist corporations will contribute money tax-free to haul 'em in, totally protected by the US government through "tourist visas". Then they'll breed and give birth and have some US citizens to anchor them here forever.

This is the pure evil of the Open Borders Lobby operating at its best and boldest. Oh, and these "tourists" won't be spending a dime. They'll be in and stealing jobs, education, medical care and welfare. And all the other "not-for-profit tax-exempt" "advocacy groups" will be working in this new organization to show them all how to do it. They've already got their phony Social Security numbers all lined up.

LOL Judy! I was thinking the same thing. The propaganda eminating from this administration/congress would have made Dr. Goebbels blush!

It really is shocking!