It is widely known that the US is in deep financial trouble. The US government’s obligations for its Social Security and Medicare programs will soon exceed the net worth of every household and nonprofit organization in the nation.
Unfortunately, as US Representative Ron Paul said: “[The US] Congress repeatedly has raided Social Security to pay for other pork-barrel programs.”
So, the money is gone.
Moreover, as a recent story in the Washington Post said, years ago, “political leaders chose to cut taxes, jack up spending and, for the first time in US history, wage two wars solely with borrowed funds.”
The result is the largest national debt as a percentage of GDP in US history, except during the period immediately after World War II.
How can the US turn things around? I do not know, and neither does anyone else. However, every long journey begins with a single step. There are certainly some modest steps that Washington might begin to take on the road to fiscal recovery. Boosting international tourism is one of these.
Last year, 35.8 million tourists visited Missouri, my home state. It is estimated that tourism contributes billions of US dollars in revenues to the nation’s economy. These statistics appear impressive, but the figures would be much higher if the US federal government in Washington made an effort to attract more foreign tourists.
Measured in sheer numbers, the volume of foreign visitors staying one or more nights in the US is increasing. Last year, it reached a record 59.7 million visitors and tourist volume is expected to increase 7 percent this year to reach 64 million visitors. However, the US Department of Commerce has reported that the US’ share of international tourism dropped from 17 percent in 2000 to 12 percent last year.
The US is losing foreign tourists because Washington has erected barriers that keep them out. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, visitors from most countries must have an in-person interview at one of our understaffed and overcrowded foreign consulates to get a visa. On average, the waiting time for a Chinese citizen to get a visa to visit the US is 48 days.
However, it takes only 12 days on average for that same person to get a visa to visit the UK. Not surprisingly, swarms of tourists opt to go to countries other than the US. Approximately 3.7 million Chinese tourists visited Europe last year, but only 800,000 journeyed to the US.
Employing modern technology (including the use of videoconferencing facilities) and increasing staff at overseas consulates could reduce the time required for visa processing. Expanding the visa-waiver program to countries such as Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina and Chile would also help.
Indeed, Taiwan has long met the requirements of the US visa-waiver program. Why the holdup? As it stands, only 36 countries now participate in the US visa-waiver program.
Welcoming “low-risk” people to visit the US makes good economic sense. These visitors spend money on transportation, accommodation, shopping, restaurants and all sorts of other entertainment activities. This spending has a “ripple effect” throughout the economy. In fact, according to the US Commerce Department, boosting international tourism by just 10 percent would create 100,000 new jobs for Americans.
As Bill Marriott Jr, chairman and chief executive of Marriott International, said recently: “I can see no other way [US President Barack Obama] can create jobs and stimulate the economy faster, at little cost, than welcoming people to the US.”
In short, the US needs to take the steps required to attract more tourists.
Dennis Hickey is director of Missouri State University’s Global Studies graduate program.
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