Tourism slump worries US

Moves are afoot to market America and regain valuable revenue from overseas visitors.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2360948,00.html

Well i spent tourist dollars there. i was there for three weeks in June! :woohoo:

This may sound self-centered, but I'd rather enjoy my own National Parks without being bumper to bumper with "foreigners". Call me xenophobic after 9-11; yes I am. Do places like Germany and Switzerland really market themselves? France? If they do, I never see the ads. I can just look up certain places on the internet and know whether I want to visit them, or hear talk among friends.

I want our country to be very security conscious, and screen each person who comes in. It seems like countries that seem really beautiful and pleasant, like New Zealand, don't encourage alot of people to come, and definitely don't let them stay there.

I do think we need to improve our image with other countries in the world; and that involves respect, not tourism. We should want people to come to promote goodwill, not for their "valuable revenue". Why does everything have to be about money?

In Europe, there are "lots" of ads etc for tourism, they market to the people of Europe who would travel to other countries within Europe.

Quite novel marketing approach.......determine who your "target" audience is and "target" your ads to those who come to visit from those countries.

Tourism is a huge deal for people who cannot rely on "native" US citizens to only "stay" in the US, and not go to any other countries for a vacation.

Toronto is concerned about a "downsize" of US visitors, because guess what, a lot of people who live in Toronto do not stay at Hotels, go out to dinner everynight, go to "tourist" attractions, etc.

I go to California, well I have to stay at a Hotel($), buy meals(support the service industry), go to different attractions, buy "tourist" gifts, and spend my money in California.

Trust me when I say that when SARS hit Toronto, tourism was down 50%, conventions were cancelled, very few people came.

Hotel rooms sat empty, lays off, business closed, stores closed, many people ended up unemployed, restaurants closed and or laid off employees, it "hurt" the entire "tourist" industry.

Is this what you want for the service industry in the USA.......you know the little B&B in Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, other tourist attractions.

You seem to feel that people who come over and spend their "money" in your country are a threat to your security, that is your opinion.

But ask any service industry employee, and they "need and want" tourist to come to their restaurant, stay in their hotel, pick their tourist attraction.

Lest they lose their job and the ability to support their family........tourist are the backbone and the bread and butter......

That is why the "trend" of people avoiding the USA and lack of tourist would be alarming, because if it is a trend then it is likely to continue.

I see ads in my province for Virgina Beach, New York, Boston, Penn. Florida, California, Washington State, Maryland because they are not that far from Canada and "are marketing to Canadians".

Marthatex said:

We should want people to come to promote goodwill, not for their "valuable revenue". Why does everything have to be about money?

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Martha, I don't know if everything has to be about money, but our economy depends on tourism from abroad. (As for 9/11, most of the highjackers came here on student visas, if I remember correctly.)

Here in the California desert, we LOVE European tourists because they travel in the summer and don't seem to mind the heat. Personally, I wouldn't have a job if it weren't for the Canadians who spend their winter vacations in our sunshine.

So let's have security checks, sure. But don't stop the innocent "foreigners" from coming.

(BTW, yes, New Zealand and Australia have strict immigration laws. They also market themselves heavily, here and elsewhere.)

Most countries depend upon tourism as a factor in a strong economy. The U.S. is no exception and foreign tourists are crucial. I do not perceive foreign tourists as a threat and am proud to share our national treasures with people from outside just as I enjoy seeing the great treasures of other places when I travel.

Gosh, but i'm grateful we met so many who welcomed us spending our money touring the mid-west, Marthatex. it would have been a bit of a let-down if people in hotels, restaurants, national parks and museums etc. had had your attitude.

we had a fabulous time and i certainly learned oodles of history of your nation from people who cared to take the time to share.

i could have stuck with books and the internet, but then i wouldn't have really experienced the land we traversed on this trip - although i suppose i would have saved a lot of money. :waitasec:

i'm not sure funding for, for example, national parks would be there to keep them open if there weren't so many foreign visitors, but maybe that isn't so?

your country is very security concious, you know: there is a picture of me and a copy of my fingerprints on entry to America nestled somewhere in some database.