U.S. Travel Supports Measure in Omnibus Bill to Increase Jobs by Improving Visa Access, Urges Congress to Pass Legislation
The U.S. Travel Association has announced its support of the omnibus legislation now before Congress, which includes a provision that would increase jobs by attracting more international visitors through improving access to visas.
The measure included in the legislation to fund all government programs for fiscal year 2011, which must pass by the end of the year, directs the Secretary of State to create a pilot program that would use secure remote videoconferencing technology for visa interviews. The videoconferencing technology could be a boon to attracting more high-value travelers from geographically large countries with limited access to U.S. consulates, such as Brazil, China and India.
"Exploring the use of secure videoconferencing technology creates a new avenue for us to create jobs and reap significant new revenue that would be created by an influx of visitors who want to come the U.S. but are now limited in their ability to get here by an arduous visa process," said Roger Dow, U.S. Travel's president and CEO. "Not keeping pace with the boom in international travel, in large part due to difficulty in obtaining visas, has cost the U.S. economy more than $500 billion during the past decade."
As an example of the kind of difficulties secure videoconferencing for visa interviews could address, Dow said a family of four in Manaus, Brazil, interested in visiting the U.S. now must travel more than 1,200 miles for a brief interview at the consulate in Brasilia. The cost of that trip, when hotel, airfare, application and visa fees are factored in, would be roughly $2,600, even before the family knows it has been granted a visa to come to the U.S.
"The average overseas visitor to the U.S. spends $4,000 per trip," Dow said. "At a time we're looking for ways to increase jobs and reduce our deficits, pursuing smart ideas like secure videoconferencing to make the process of obtaining visas more convenient for legitimate travelers with high interest in coming to America makes a lot of sense."
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $704 billion travel industry. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit www.ustravel.org.
