Foreign Tourist industry in US down down down

[Robbien]

Nationally, overseas visitors dropped from 26 million annually to 21 million from 2000 to 2005 . . . This comes at a time when the weak dollar had made visits to the U.S. cheaper for foreign travelers.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/02/05/editorial/editorial02.html

Congress believes this is because it is hard to get US visas in some countries. They are going to work on that.

Problem solved I am sure.

yeah, right.

[unhappycamper]

1. Actually, the problem is folks are worried they will be snatched & flown

to a secret prison in the gulag. Or they may be voting on our rendition/torture program with their vacation money.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Note to Congress...

Try the "Everybody on earth is now convinced we're bloodthirsty morons, convinced we have a right to wreck the planet and half the countries in it, through fomenting war or creating more CO2 than any other nation around" opinion.

It's actually truthier.

[ixion]

8. much truthier...congress critters would do well to listen to the 'reality-based' community

rather than using the BushCo 'Fairyland' Filter®. That filter is single-handedly running this country into the ground.

[sarge43]

3. I'd be leary about visiting a country that

doesn't have habeas corpus; where the gov't routinely spies on its citizens, let alone foreign nationals; where you're damn near striped searched before you can even get out of the airport; where, if you have the wrong name or skin color, you could be arrested because your name is on some list.

Work on that while you're at it, Congress

[junkiebrewster]

12. As someone who visits Russia with some frequency...

You just described Russia to a "T." Sadly, this is what our country has become.

RE: The original post...

I have Russian friends who have tried multiple times to get a US tourist visa, but they are denied, usually because they are not married, nor do they own significant property. When it concerns Russians, these appear to be criteria in allowing them to get visas. Apparently, the US government wants to make sure they have incentive to leave when the visa expires.

I have begun telling my Russian friends to catch a flight to Mexico and come in that way. No visa = vacation until you are caught!!!!!

[sarge43]

14. Yes.

"Choose your enemies carefully as you will become like them." Anonymous

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. Make that...

arrested and sent to Syria to be tortured. That's only if they don't want to do it themselves...

[sarge43]

19. Outsourcing. n/t

[tanyev]

4. They're just not that into us anymore.

And who can blame them?

[htuttle]

5. I imagine that the chance of getting mistakenly kidnapped and sent to a Syrian torture cell....

...probably puts kind of a damper on the tourist trade.

[Double T]

6. 'We're certainly NOT what would be considered a 'friendly' nation.

Being flown to Syria and tortured isn't MOST peoples idea of a great vacation.

[mmonk]

7. Countries like the US

or North Korea where foreigners are watched so closely as to make them feel uncomfortable aren't the places where someone wants to go to relax.

[magellan]

9. Maybe foreigners are simply vacationing their conscience

We have two friends in the UK who recently spent a month in Cuba rather than visit the US -- and they've never been to the States before. They're both professionals and well off. They just had no desire to spend their money in this country because of all Bush** has done. Who can blame them? And I'm sure they aren't the only ones thinking along those lines.

[pretzel4gore]

10. hard not to dislike, hell despise, the USA

people like Jeanne Garafaolo, Thom Hartman, Michael Moore, Sean Penn and too many others to name, not to mention DU and the rest of the progressives, counter the notion but- why in hell don't somebody visit rush limbah? or brite hum? or bill owhorelly?...theese piggers walk around the usa like they own it, and screw the rest!

[parkia00]

11. It's also the uncertainty of being allowed into the US

Imagine if you purchased you round trip tickets and once you arrive at some US airport, it really up the the Homeland Security folks and immigration to decide if you can actually enter the country even if you have all the necessary papers and did everything right. What if the agent was in a particularly foul mood that day or simply didn't like your face? You can be hauled off for interrogation for hours and then finally put on a plane back to where you come from for some security reasons. There goes you holiday plans and the money you spent on your airline tickets and hotel reservation cancellations charges.

Also getting a US visa is a real pain in the ass. Many times you feel like a second class human being when you go to the embessy for an interview. The last time I was at the US embassey for a Visa, you don't actually get to speak to an American at all. You speak to an "approved local" through a little grilled window in a side building outside the embassy grounds. You submit you application, photos etc... with your $100 check paid out to Uncle Sam in a little letter slot. If you pass the first level of scrutiny, you are called for your interview. If not, you receive a call that your application has been rejected and that's that. You get nothing back. Also the $100 (at least in Malaysia) application fee per application per person you pay upfront is non refundable. If you are rejected for a visa, you loose that $100. Uncle Sam eats it up. :banghead:

For many folks and families, it just not worth the hasstle or indignation.

[Robbien]

16. That is an interesting background story

So my sarcasm about visas being a big problem was a bit misplaced.

We are one messed up country.

[gatorboy]

13. The French? Muslims? Germans? Canadians?

Who'd want to visit a country that constantly insults them?

[Selatius]

15. Maybe it's because we have a fucking proto-fascist regime running America?

America is a paradise for war profiteers, but it's shit for the poorest and for middle class people. When cities like New Orleans are wastelands, you have to expect lower tourism dollars.

[treestar]

17. Also losing students steadily

And as if was, they had to prove they could pay for everything without working.

It was easy to see that after 911 the Canadians and Australians could step in, but they didn't, they just got as bad as we are, as if 911 happened on their soil too (maybe culturally they though it did).

The European Union is likely to be the ones to benefit economically from our deliberate isolation-type actions.

Though it could get better when the bureaucracy finally has all its systems in place. The realized they did not have complete control of all foreigners who entered the US - traditionally we just trust them to leave when their stay is up.

The irony of it all is that the 911 hijackers as alleged were not overstays yet.