TravelMole Interview: Richard Copland, ASTA
Terrorism alerts and tightened rules for entering the US have led Richard Copland, CEO and president of the American Society of Travel Agents, to lower his own forecast for tourism this year to be “decent” instead of “good.” “I would say travel will be off anywhere from 10 to 20%,” because of the new rules, he told TravelMole. Copland, who has met repeatedly with Homeland Security officials who he said were “very receptive” to travel business concerns, complains that the colored travel threat levels are confusing. “I travel once a week. When the light goes from yellow to orange, am I supposed to go from being frightened to being terrified?” he asks. Mr Copland said he understands that the US government is just doing their job by trying to protect the public, and readily admits he has no easy answers. “All I can do is implore the government to do a better job,” he said. As previously reported by TravelMole, there is concern that new US visa rules could deter visitors from across the Atlantic, particularly from the UK, where thousands of visitors will have to apply for interviews for new passports. While Mr Copland agreed that the new visa and passport requirements will hurt international travel to the US, he declined to estimate any numbers. Mr Copland said it was too early for him to predict the impact of the tightened rules on air bookings. But he was not concerned about Americans foregoing travel entirely because of the various threats. He said: “Travel is such a growing force. People are going to continue to travel.” See today’s related story: Tighter security hits US hotel occupancy
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