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US puts out welcome mat for foreign tourists
Travel officials praised the US government’s latest plan to make it easier for foreign tourists to visit the US and be treated more graciously.
Apparently to underscore the US government’s new commitment to tourism, both Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the new plans.
“Our work on Capitol Hill has paid off,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association of America. He added:
“Our many visits with elected officials and senior leadership of the administration of the State Department and Homeland Security have allowed them to take our issues, consider and discuss them, and announce initiatives that will make a huge difference in our business.”
Added National Business Travel Association President and CEO Suzanne Fletcher:
“Secretaries Chertoff and Rice are to be congratulated for looking at the big picture of the impact of the multitude of travel and border security programs on travel and the conduct of international commerce.”
US government officials for months have been talking about beefing up border security to prevent terrorism. At the same time, senior US officials said they wanted to keep the “welcome mat out for…overseas visitors.
New initiatives to make it easier for foreigners to visit the US include:
- Develop model programs at Washington Dulles International and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airports to create a more welcoming environment for foreign travelers. Videos will be used as well as “friendly greeters.”
- The government will test digital videoconferencing to see whether visitors applying for visas can be interviewed by video conferencing instead of in person.
- The government will attempt to encourage foreigners to study in the US by extending the length of visas. Students will also be able to get longer visas.
- Inexpensive security cards for foreigners and US citizens traveling across US borders with Canada and the Caribbean will be developed.
Travel groups were particularly upset by Homeland Security saying in the future people would need passports rather than driver’s license when crossing Canadian and Mexican borders.
The new cards, Mr Chertoff said, will be “like the kind of driver’s license or other simple card identification that almost all of us carry.”
Report by David Wilkening
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