Editorial: World travelers shun U.S.

Saturday, July 7, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

F rom 2000 to 2006, international travel increased 39 percent among residents of the six countries that provide the most visitors to the United States.

Alarmingly, however, visits to the United States from those countries - Britain, Japan, Germany, France, South Korea and Australia - dropped 15 percent during those years.

Altogether, the United States suffered a 17 percent drop in tourism from countries other than Canada and Mexico during that period, according to the Commerce Department.

The decline has been felt even more severely in Southern Nevada. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, travel here from countries other than Mexico and Canada declined 30 percent from 2000 to 2006.

Two reasons are thought to be behind the decline: lack of a coordinated national program to promote tourism to the United States, and difficulties and delays since 9/11 encountered by foreign visitors as they try to get through customs.

The Senate Commerce Committee has passed a bill intended to resolve these issues. It would create a nonprofit, public-private corporation to promote the United States as a tourist destination and work with federal agencies on fixing visa policies and entry processes, according to an Associated Press report.

Quoted in the report was a national tourism expert, who said European papers are filled with "horror stories" about the experiences of travelers at U.S. airports.

AP also referred to a study by Oxford Economics, a for-profit British organization specializing in financial research. The study said the drop in international tourism has cost the United States $100 billion in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs and $16 billion in tax revenue.

The new corporation would be funded by the travel industry and a $10 fee assessed to travelers from the 27 countries with which the United States has an agreement to waive the visa requirement.

We think the corporation should be given a chance to prove itself. The declines we've seen here and in the rest of the country cry out for a strong plan to reverse them.