PhotoXpress
The Federal Government Could Do More to Facilitate Global Travel
The government is trying to improve America’s attractiveness as a tourist destination by expediting visa procedures in emerging economies.
The United States federal government has been significantly late to recognize and enact ways to encourage and facilitate more international travel to the US. It allowed visa processes to remain lengthy and unorganized abroad, and left marketing to state, regional, and city tourism boards.
It’s recently taken several steps to improve America’s attractiveness as a tourist destination by expediting visa procedures in emerging economies and launching Brand USA and marketing campaigns overseas. But it can still do better.
A number of travel and tourism initiatives were recently added to an immigration reform bill that passed through the Senate in June. The bill, now stuck in the US House of Representatives and the White House, is in full force touting the economic benefits of the “commonsense” reform.
The White House updated its blog on Aug. 20 with a post outlining the initiatives that would spark tourism and the economy should the bill be passed by the House.