Travelers Fear U.S. Border Officials More than Threat of Terrorism or Crime

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Posted by Renato S. Beninatto, Donald A. DePalma on January 9, 2008 in the following blogs: Translation and Localization
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Last year the New York Times reported that the "Discover America Partnership, an association of travel industry executives, surveyed more than 2,000 international travelers and found that the United States was considered the least welcoming destination, by a ratio of more than two to one. The survey revealed that the U.S. ranked highest among 10 destinations -- including some in Africa and the Middle East -- as the most unfriendly to international travelers. Fully 39% of respondents said the U.S. has the "worst" entry process -- the next closest was the Middle East, with 16% of respondents. Since airports worldwide now require 1-liter Ziploc® plastic bags for microscopic containers of liquids and gels, why is the U.S. so unpopular among business and leisure travelers?

The U.S. tourism industry launched the Discover America Partnership to promote visits to the States as one way to improve America's image overseas -- "to know us is to love us," as we're fond of saying. This initiative has turned out to be a harder job than they expected. Colleagues living outside the States, all frequent business travelers, dread the visa process. Foreign tourists worry that they will be detained for hours because of a simple mistake or a misstatement at a U.S. airport.

As frequent travelers around the world, we at Common Sense Advisory regularly conduct our own personal assessments of border crossings and agree with the findings. Nothing beats entering Europe with a European passport, but if an American citizen wants a taste of his country's own medicine, just head to a Brazilian consulate (don't ask Don unless you want to hear a rant about how Brazilian consular officials in Boston are missing their paternal parent). Brazil's reciprocity policy requires American citizens to go through the same hassles that Brazilian citizens go through to come to U.S. -- consular interview, expensive fees, photograph and fingerprinting at the border, and a special slow-track lane for U.S. citizens (again, don't ask Don). It costs both sides:

The cost for Brazil is high. The country loses lots of tourism dollars that go instead to Argentina, Peru, and, of course, the Caribbean islands. The benefit for Brazilians? None, except the possibility of bragging about standing up to the Great Ogre to the north. Chile seems to have found a good balance: Passport-holders from countries that require paid visas from Chileans have to pay a "reciprocity fee" at the airport before being admitted to the country (currently Australians, Canadians, Mexicans, and U.S. residents are subject to this fee).

How does this issue affect U.S. citizens? European participants to our workshops complain about rude treatment at American immigration. Would-be delegates from Asia and Latin America prefer traveling to our European events to avoid the hassle of going to a U.S. consular office and being badly treated. Extrapolate this across the range of services and tourism destinations in the States and you wonder how many foreigners choose to skip Florida or Colorado for their winter breaks.

Naturally, there is a price to everything, even pride. America has become one big discount bin, thanks to the dollar reaching record lows against the euro plus already lower prices due to the U.S. economy's volume. As a result, tourists spend thousands of euros to travel to the United States to take advantage of bargains on everything from electronics to designer clothes. However, the hordes of shopping-bag toting Europeans we encountered in Times Square over the Winter Solstice holidays mask a contradictory datapoint: Right before the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the United States, the Discover America Partnership announced that British leisure and business travel is down 11% since 2000: "the persistent decline in British travelers would be even worse" without that favorable exchange rate. Macy's and J&R Music World would be doing even better were it not for the border checks.

We are saddened that the ideals of free enterprise, freedom of trade and occupation, and freedom of movement promoted by America during the Cold War, are now overshadowed by xenophobia and fear.

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