by Next updated: 9: 40 PM ET, Mon May 6, 2024Los Angeles, California — The United States has” major problems” when it comes to international inbound journey that must be resolved if the state is to restore its competitive advantage. That’s the analysis of the U. S. Travel Association and its chief Geoff Freeman, the group’s president and CEO. At a press conference held now in Los Angeles, California, where a convention for the travel industry is taking place, Freeman gave a sobering analysis of the issues affecting outbound travel to the United States. ” The United States remains the world’s most desired country to visit, but at the end of 2019 we had 79 million tourists abroad and in 2023 we had 67 million international guests”, Freeman told the media gathered for the IPW 2024 agreement. ” That’s merely 84 percent of prior- pandemic rates”. ” When you look at travel as an export- before the pandemic we had a 12 billion ]person ] travel trade surplus. At end of last year we had about a 50 billion ]person ] travel trade deficit”, Freeman added. The United States now faces a number of difficulties in attracting foreign tourists and drastically increasing inbound sales, Freeman said. And while some of those issues are beyond the government’s control, others are not. There’s not much that can be done, for example, about the strength of the U. S. money, which makes this country very pricey to attend from many other parts of the world. Similar to the current restrictions on flights over Russian airspace, which are a major impediment for Chinese airlines entering this nation, there is n’t much American government can do. But, visa wait times continue to be a major roadblock for global visitors— and that’s an issue U. S. officials may — and really — be able to fix, Freeman said. ” On the visa side, I checked this morning— if you’re a Columbian and want to come to the U. S. the wait times are over 600 days to get an interview at a U. S. consulate”, said Freeman. ” If you’re in Mexico, the wait times are over 800 days “.By contrast, for visitors from India the wait timeline for visa interviews has recently been reduced to a somewhat more reasonable 150 to 200 days. Similarly, wait times for those visiting from Brazil have been reduced drastically — from what was once 500 days down to just 21 days, according to the U. S. Travel Association. It demonstrates how achievable it is. This issue can be resolved when the State Department makes the right decisions and makes creative decisions, Freeman said. ” But it’s been going on for far too long. The U.S. Travel Association has issued a challenge to the Biden administration in a bold move to advance the cause and get the visa problem resolved. The organization is urging the administration to set a 30-day or less processing time for all visa applications at consulates around the world. Freeman predicts that the United States will continue to lose market share to other countries if it does n’t take that call. Officials in other countries are actively checking the source markets where the longest U.S. visa wait times are and distributing their own welcome mats to such visitors, according to Freeman, to entice them to leave this nation. Other nations are taking proactive measures to draw people away from the United States, according to Freeman, whether it’s Canada, the UK, or Turkey. ” They’re looking at the countries where we have long visa wait times and they’re allowing those travelers to come in]to their countries ] visa free”.During a one- on- one interview with TravelPulse after the press conference, Freeman elaborated on this point. According to him, Canada recently added 14 additional nations to its list of source markets that allow visitors to travel without obtaining a visa. All 14 of the nations that Canada added to its list of nations with visas were those whose citizens are currently required to obtain them in order to enter the United States, and they are currently experiencing long wait times for U.S. visas. Similar to this, Brazil’s visa requirements have recently been significantly waived in the United Kingdom. Up until recently, Brazil was a country whose citizens were experiencing excessive ( 500- day ) wait times to get a visa appointment for the United States, Freeman told TravelPulse. ” It’s those types of steps that are going to steal travelers from the U. S.”, said Freeman. ” So yeah, ]other countries ] know what’s going on and are being strategic about it”, said Freeman. ” There’s real coordination at the top levels of their governments, that we do n’t have in the United States”.Keven McAleenan, Patty Cogswell and U. The U.S. Travel Association established a commission of experts to help solve some of the nation’s inbound tourism issues earlier this year. The commission consists of two highly regarded figures: a former TSA administrator and a former TSA administrator, as well as a former TSA administrator. There’s also a number of individuals from the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) and the State Department. The commission even includes an expert who was the former head of London’s Heathrow Airport, Freeman told TravelPulse. The committee’s main goal will be to “make sure the United States gets its share of international travelers” by putting forward ideas that the U.S. government can adopt to improve the country’s competitiveness and “make sure the country gets its share of international travelers.” Two members of that commission are currently traveling around the nation to assess the state of the airports from coast to coast in order to identify ways the nation can become more competitive. Freeman stated in an interview with TravelPulse that he anticipates the committee to make some initial suggestions regarding possible improvements to inbound travel by the second half of this year. ” In our experience, this is what is needed”, Freeman said. You frequently have to hand the changes to the federal government to make them happen, according to the president. If you put it on a silver platter and make it easy for them, they’ll adopt it” .For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter. &# 13,
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