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Foreigners unwelcome in America?
Overseas travelers feel unwelcome
in US, shows study.
27 March, 2007
A travel group in Thailand has found
that thousands of travelers worldwide,
including those from Thailand, are
skipping the United States because
they feel that foreigners are
unwelcome in America.
As a result, the Bangkok-based Pacific
Asia Travel Association (PATA) said,
the United States’ economy is losing
US$16.4 billion in new expenditure,
189,000 new jobs and $2.6 billion in
federal, state and local tax revenues.
PATA cited the findings of a study
conducted by the Discover America
Partnership (DAP), a group of the
United States’ travel and tourism
business leaders.
According to PATA, foreigners who
traveled to the United States have
pointed out a host of reasons for not
visiting that country, including the
protracted visa process, the laborious
entry process and, worse, a general
perception that they feel unwelcome.
Since the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks, the US has
experienced a 17% decline in the
number of travelers from abroad.
Between 2004 and 2005, the US
witnessed a 10% fall in the number of
foreign business travelers.
In 2006, the PATA study revealed, the
number of Asians traveling to the
United States showed no growth from
the previous year’s figure of around
6.15 million. This happened at a time
when the global travel market
continued its huge expansion.
The Discover America Partnership has
suggested a three-pronged strategy
solve the United States’ travel
problems, even while not compromising
on the country’s security.
The Discover America Partnership plan
includes processing visa applications
in 30 days or less, processing
arrivals at entry points in 30 minutes
or less, and launching a targeted
campaign to change negative
perceptions about traveling to the
United States.
RUSSSIA-THAILAND TRAVEL PACT:
An agreement between Russia and
Thailand on visas-free travel by their
citizens to the other country took
effect on March 24, 2007. This means
that Russians and Thais do not have to
obtain visas if their stay does not
exceed 30 days.
According to an official at the
Russian embassy in Bangkok, Thailand’s
capital, travelers now can go right
from the airport ramp to the passport
desk instead of going to the desks
where visas are issued.
Earlier, travelers usually had to wait
for several hours in places where the
entry documents were issued.
The agreement on visa-free travel
comes when Russia and Thailand are
celebrating this summer the 110th
anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the two
countries.
Thailand’s beach cities are very
popular with Russian tourists, who
come in thousands to Thailand every
year.
In 2006, about 150,000 Russians
visited Thailand.
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