As the nation approaches the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Travel Association is resuming its drive to eliminate barriers to travel while working with the government to maintain and enhance security.
Briefing reporters on a conference call last week, U.S. Travel President Roger Dow reiterated the association's view that the 10 years following the attacks were a "lost decade" for inbound travel and tourism because the U.S. market share of long-haul international travel fell from 17% in 2000 to 12.4% in 2010. As a result, the U.S. "lost visitors, lost revenues and lost jobs," he said.
Had the U.S. merely kept pace with overall global travel, it would have seen an additional 78 million travelers over that decade, and $606 billion in spending, Dow said.
U.S. Travel has long maintained that the U.S. lost out partly because it was out-promoted by other countries and because U.S. entry and security procedures deterred many visitors, including tourists, business travelers and conference attendees.
Dow said the task now is to build on the strength of the country's security procedures to improve efficiency and improve the travel process by pursuing three main goals: reduce traveler wait times, improve customer service and eliminate "one-size-fits-all" security procedures.
For wait times, U.S. Travel is urging the government to set a goal of reducing airport checkpoint delays to 10 minutes or less, State Department visa processing to 10 days and the wait time for the processing of incoming international visitors to 20 minutes or less.
Possibilities for customer service improvements include relying on hospitality industry professionals to help train consular and Homeland Security employees who deal with arriving visitors.
On the one-size-fits-all issue, Dow said he was encouraged that the U.S. is beginning to develop a pilot test of a "trusted traveler" program that would use risk analysis to expedite low-risk frequent travelers and free up resources for scrutinizing more "high-risk" travelers.
He also called for expansion of the Visa Waiver Program and a streamlined process for visitors who still require visas.
One quick way to do that, he said, is to extend the validity period of U.S. visas beyond the traditional one year. Dow said about a third of applicants for U.S. visas are repeat travelers seeking a renewal.
Granting them a longer visa will reduce the number of times they have to reapply and reduce the lines and waiting times for other applicants.
He said Canada recently began granting 10-year, multiple-entry visas and urged the U.S. to consider a similar step.