By Channon Hanna
On Thursday, President Obama travelled to Walt Disney World in Orlando to announce new initiatives to increase travel and tourism to the United States. Among the initiatives announced were visa reform, Global Entry expansion and promotion, and the expansion of the visa waiver program— all of which are key reforms that ACI-NA has advocated for years and has worked to advance through the ACI-NA Facilitation Committee, the U.S. International Air Service Program and the U.S Government Affairs Committee. ACI-NA President Greg Principato also sent a letter to President Obamacommending these initiatives.
In front of Cinderella’s Castle in Walt Disney World, President Obama on Thursday announced his new initiatives to increase travel and tourism.
During his address, President Obama reminded the audience that the U.S. tourism and travel industry is a substantial component of U.S. gross domestic product and employment, representing 2.7 percent of GDP and 7.5 million jobs in 2010. The President emphasized that these initiatives are a part of the administration’s comprehensive effort to help spur job creation.
Highlights of the initiatives include:
- Increasing non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012.
- As a part of this initiative, the Departments of State and Homeland Security announced a pilot program to simplify and speed up the non-immigrant visa process for certain applicants, including the ability to waive interviews for some very low-risk applicants, such as persons applying for visa renewals.
- Ensuring that 80 percent of non-immigrant visa applications are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of application.
- Increasing the efforts to expand the Visa Waiver Program and travel by nationals eligible to participate in program.
- The Secretary of State has formally requested that the Secretary of Homeland Security consider Taiwan for participation in the program.
- Final Rule on the Global Entry program which will make it permanent and expand the program to four additional airports — Minneapolis, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix. This expansion would mean expedited clearance would be available to approximately 97 percent of international travelers. ACI-NA submitted comments to the administration in support of making the Global Entry program permanent.
These initiatives by the President are a great start to increasing international visitors to the United States. ACI-NA will continue to work with the administration and Congress to develop strategies which will enhance the security and the efficiency of the international arrivals process and attract international visitors to the United States.