WASHINGTON --
Travel industry businesses ranging from Anheuser-Busch to Walt
Disney World & Resorts have teamed together to form the
Discover America Partnership in an effort to both alert policy
makers on Capitol Hill of America's waning image overseas and offer
strategies to improve it.
The partnership's
key objective is to educate policymakers on the travel industry and
how it can play a role in international diplomacy.
"The role that
industry can play economically is understood and appreciated,"
Geoffrey Freeman, the Partnership's executive director told
TravelWeekly.com. "But the role it can play in public diplomacy is
not recognized and not appreciated and it is our job to make policy
makers appreciate it."
The partnership,
which launched during a press conference on Capitol Hill Sept. 13,
dovetails with several efforts by the travel industry to raise the
issue with policy makers.
The efforts
officially began with the World Travel & Tourism Council
convention in Washington last April and continued this month with
the presentation of a 38-page "Restoring America's Travel Brand"
report delivered to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on Sept. 5
and then with the Travel Leadership Summit on Sept. 12, during
which travel industry representatives met with members of
Congress.
Among other
things the industry believes the government should, in a post-9/11
environment, secure U.S. borders, but at the same time remain
welcoming to inbound visitors.
"We live in an
environment where there are risks and rewards," Freeman said.
"Currently, all of the risk is associated with travel and all the
reward is associated with security. We need to get into a debate --
we need to create a debate -- where there is reward associated with
travel. We need to insert ourselves into that debate. We need to
make policy makers listen to us."
The travel
industry contends that there has been an unintended consequence
resulting from a growing world perception that the U.S. government
is more interested in security and less interested in welcoming
visitors.
According to a
study released last May conducted by Pew Research, in most nations,
favorable opinion of the U.S. is far below 50%.
Certain U.S.
government policies, including visa restrictions and the war in
Iraq have contributed to the decline in overall opinion, the study
said.
The travel
industry contends that the world's view of the U.S. would improve
if the U.S. did more to encourage inbound tourism.
"The Pew study
shows that feeling for Americans is far above the favorability of
America," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry
Association during the press conference. "Favorability [of both
Americans and America] skyrockets ... when people have visited this
country. They return home feeling 42% better [about the U.S.] than
folks who have never been here. If you were an automobile
[manufacturer] and folks told you that if someone test drove your
car, that they would feel 42% better about your brand, wouldn't you
[encourage] test drives?"
Sensing the U.S.
no longer welcomes visitors, many international travelers have gone
elsewhere. As a result, America's share of the global travel market
has declined. It is estimated that, as a result, the U.S. lost $43
billion in inbound tourism related revenue in 2005
alone.
The economics of
the travel and tourism industry is not the only thing being
affected by the way other's see the U.S.
"The world's
diminishing view of America has very real consequences not only for
American business in general and for travel and tourism in
particular, but for the nation's overall security," said Jonathan
Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels and chairman of the Travel
Business Roundtable.
Rep. William
Delahunt (D-Mass.) a member of the House International Relations
Committee said the U.S. image problem overseas could undermine
efforts to combat terrorism.
"There are
profound economic and diplomatic consequences," Delahunt
said.
In an April 2005
report issued by the Government Accountability Office, Congress'
investigative arm, Delahunt said, "Anti-American sentiment is
broadening and deepening all over the world. Such anti-American
sentiment can increase foreign, public support for terrorism
directed at Americans, impact the cost and effectiveness of
military operations, weakening the ability of the U.S. to align
with other nations and negatively impact our commercial
relationship in a global economy in pursuit of common policy
objectives."
Delahunt said
negative U.S. sentiment is not limited to the "Islamic world. Data
indicates that the approval rating of the U.S. in Great Britain has
declined some 27% in the last six years. Twenty-three percent of
the people in Spain have a favorable opinion of the U.S. This
clearly implicates our foreign policy objectives because without
the support of people in nations that are traditional allies of the
U.S., we will not have partners in the war on
terrorism."
The Discover
America Partnership contends that more can be done to welcome
visitors and promote visits to the U.S. It intends to attract at
least 10 million more visitors to the U.S. annually.
To contact reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].
Get
More!
To view the
entire "Restoring America's Travel Brand" report, go to
TravelWeekly.com'sSource Docssection under
theResearchtab and view the
information within the "Advisory board educates
gov't on improving U.S. brand image"
document.