In what might be a two-pronged attack on the fears that have driven U.S. inbound tourism down by 5.5% over the last year, U.S. tourism officials have announced a ‘fact-checking’ campaign to paint a prettier picture, and immigration officials have backed away from some parts of their demands that prospective visitors share their social media accounts with officials.
Travel Weekly reports that a senior Customs and Border Protection official told a U.S. Travel Association conference that after getting negative feedback to its proposal to require visitors from visa waiver countries to provide five years of social media history it is considering a more targeted approach that would make the amount of data required dependent on answers given in the process of applying for an ESTA. In any case, the new proposal calls for a new comment period, so actual effect is still months away.
In the meantime, Brand USA, the official national tourism promotion organization is rolling out two initiatives designed to overcome resistance to U.S. travel. One promotes iconic areas under the title “American Originals,” while the other, called “Get Facts, Get Going,” is to address what it says are ‘misperceptions’ about visa requirements, entry procedures and National Park pricing.
That last is going to be a heavy lift, given that, in fact, park prices have risen sharply for non-residents, social media snooping is in the plans, and there have been widespread incidents of visitors either refused ESTAs or detained for weeks on unclear grounds. Some of those fears, or distaste for the procedures, have helped dampen what officials hoped would be a tourism surge around the World Cup football games.
