US Tourism Decline
For folks who frequently travel, news about a decline in U.S. tourism is not a surprise given the frustrations of security searches, tiny small bottles, rude immigration officers and an infuriating visa process. The stats are discouraging.
The number of foreign visitors to the United States has plummeted since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington because foreigners don’t feel welcome, tourism professionals said Thursday.
“Since September 11, 2001, the United States has experienced a 17 percent decline in overseas travel, costing America 94 billion dollars in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs and 16 billion dollars in lost tax revenue,” the Discover America advocacy campaign said in a statement. [link]
Interestingly, at the same time the process of travelling to China has improved greatly. The immigration and security checks at the China border are faster and more courteous. At the metal detectors, all the body frisking is done by young female security officers. Female travellers appreciate that, and as for male travellers, (cough) it’s the highlight of their trip.
Compared to the US passport check, they’ve actually inverted the model when it comes to customer service. Every immigration official at the Beijing airport immigration has a “rate this officer” box so you can punch one of four buttons to give your satisfaction score. Since it’s been installed, the lines move considerably faster.
I can’t imagine United States DHS doing this any time soon.
Rate your Chinese immigration officer
November 2nd, 2007 07:46
Well, I have seen very unpleasant border guards at Beijing International Airport literally grabbing an Indian dude, checking his — mostly empty — rucksack and his suitcase without a word, while one of them had still a fistful of the dude’s shirt in hist fist, and then pushing him away with a grunt.
PEK is fine if you’re white or overseas Chinese. If you’re a darkie, all bets are off.
November 13th, 2007 11:59
If only the TSA did this……