Can foreign tourists help U.S. economy?

Agustina Ocampo is the kind of foreign traveler businesses salivate over.

The 22-year-old Argentine recently dropped more than $5,000 on food, hotels and clothes in Las Vegas during a trip that also took her to Seattle’s Space Needle, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. But she doubts she will return soon.

“It is a little bit of a headache,” said Miss Ocampo, a student who waited months to find out whether her tourist visa application would be approved.

More than a decade after the federal government strengthened travel requirements after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, foreign visitors say getting a temporary visa remains a daunting and sometimes insurmountable hurdle.

The tourism industry hopes to change that with a campaign to persuade Congress to overhaul the State Department’s tourist visa application process.

“After 9/11, we were all shaken and there was a real concern for security, and I still think that concern exists,” said Jim Evans, a former hotel chain CEO heading a national effort to promote foreign travel to the U.S.

At the same time, he said, the U.S. needs “to be more cognizant of the importance of every single traveler.”

Tourism leaders said the decline in foreign visitors over the past decade is costing American businesses and workers $859 billion in untapped revenue and at least a half-million potential jobs at a time when the slowly recovering economy needs both.

While the State Department has beefed up tourist services in recent years, reducing wait times significantly for would-be visitors likely will be a challenge as officials try to balance terrorist threats and illegal immigration with tight budgets that limit hiring.

“Security is job one for us,” said Edward Ramotowski, managing director of the department’s visa services. “The reason we have a visa system is to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.”

That said, the agency announced earlier this month that it would increase its staff in Brazil and China to speed up the process after seeing huge surges in visa applications from both countries during the 2011 fiscal year.

The State Department said in the Dec. 21 statement that while the agency “always puts security first, visitors to the United States make critical contributions to economic growth and job creation.”

Lire la suite : http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/28/can-foreign-tourists-help-us-economy/

Source : The Washington Times, By Cristina Silva, Associated Press