Does the US want European visitors?
 

Because this will not do a lot to encourage Europeans to visit the US:

http://tinyurl.com/3b7oty

I'm wondering if it will affect my holiday in May :(

Like everything, life is a compromise.

Safety/security vs tourist dollars.

Wait until/if you see anything change then act accordingly.

When we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, and stood in the "immigration" line, we were surrounded with soldiers holding machine guns. When people in line started talking, an official yelled out something in Chinese that was startling, then repeated it in English, "NO TALKING PLEASE". I suppose we should have gotten back on our plane and flown home immediately after such a non welcoming greeting, but guess what. We chalked it up as an experience and loved Taiwan. People who don't understand the principals behind the measures and decide it's enough to not make them want to go to the US, we can probably manage without anyway.

hetismij: Most people in the USA don't care one way or the other whether or not Europeans come to visit. Certainly there are some resorts/vacation areas that actively and obviously benefit, but it's not something that most Americans see as having any significant impact on their lives.

Yes, living in a resort town I care very much about European visitors and that they visit.

I would say no, most in the US do not care whether Europeans come to the US as tourists, unless they live in resort towns that cater to said tourists.

I think they'd rather screen out the "terrorists."

Or, you could fly into Mexico and walk across the border and not be questioned at all. :-) (ok, I'll get off of my soapbox now.)

I don't live in a resort town, but I do care if Europeans want/can visit us or not - I want everyone to be able to visit us that wants to - and can afford it, except the bad people..... OOOHHHH, there in lies the issue.... :(

I live in a resort town, but even if I didn't I'd be with Debi on this one. Both in wanting everyone who can, to visit us, except the bad guys. How do we manage that? I don't know but I tend to favor stricter, rather than laxer, security measures.

This is an unfortunate outcome of events that most of us thought we'd never see occur here. It was always somewhere else that such awful things happened and we, rightly or wrongly, didn't overly concern ourselves about it. Now we have to and we're stumbling along trying to figure out how to protect ourselves without sacrificing the freedoms we all have taken for granted having been born here.

But I do want foreign visitors from all over to come here. And I want them to get to know the average person in this country, as much as they can. I hope then they'll find we all have a lot more in common than we have differences. :)>-

Fran

Being that tourism employs millions of Americans, I would hope all Americans care about ALL visitors to the US.

The aftershocks of September 11, 2001 to tourism across the US put a lot of people out of business and many lost their lively hoods.

Here is how I see it.

The US has every right to screen passengers and deny people into the country. But it shouldn't force other countries to provide data.

The departure countries and airports are responsible for screening and security for the flight. But not whether they may do harm to the US after that flight.

The US is a huge country with a multi-trillion federal budget. If we want security, just hire more immigration officers at the airport, provide the facility and computers for the counters. If there's doubt about whether a particular passenger should be admitted to the US or not, send he/she to secondary screening.

<b>But hire enough people</b>. Even before 9/11, the US is notorious for its long immigration line for visitors. It's basically a &quot;Not Welcome to the US&quot; sign. 9/11 and the current administration only made it worse, but the problem was there long before.

It's really a shame that we treated visitors this way. If there are enough immigration officers at the airports, a visitor can get through primary immigration, have their 10 fingers and toes scanned, iris, picture all taken and secondary questioning completed faster than the current wait.

Visitors can understand why we care about security. But visitors also need to feel that they're welcomed and that we are doing our best to make the line short and immigration done efficiently.

INS don't need the names before the flight leaves Europe. Just pay for more and newer computers. The problem is that we want security but won't pay for it.

Have to admit I was thinking the same thing as seashell.
If you want to come to Omaha you're more than welcome and I hope this doesn't adversely effect your plans.

If we depended upon a hearty welcome from immigration officers, no one would travel anywhere. :)

This measure looks like it was designed to keep out terrorist and the faint at heart.

But don't worry, if your trip is scheduled for May you'll be fine. Our gov doesn't move that fast.

GoTravel--we can hope all we want, but it won't make it so.

Gosh, I hope we are welcome, because we certainly like visiting! :)

You mean we don't already have armed air marshalls on our flights? I thought we did!!

Since 911 I've flown into both Phoenix and Seattle airports (and out of San Francisco and Seattle) and we never felt intimidated. The guy who took our mug shots and finger prints at Seattle, was almost apologetic. And it didn't take very long. Probably the big queues are at the bigger airports.

Us 'viva waiver' folk already get questionnaires to fill out on the plane coming over - and we have to give our passport numbers out way before we fly. We don't mind, as the security measures help us to feel safer.

Requirements for travelers from &quot;Visa Waiver&quot; countries per DHS.

http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs...mage_0021.shtm

The issue is not to discourage international travel, but to learn as much as possible about every single individual who will enter the US with enough lead time to make a determination or judgement call. It's a troublesome situation that all counties are dealing with in the world, not just in the US.

Until such time as even the smallest factions are able to resolve and put aside their rage and differences with others, we will be faced with providing more personal information to those who are charged with our daily security.

hetismij,

this American hopes that you do come to the U.S. and have a wonderful time. And not just for economic reasons.

Although security is a legitimate concern and therefore is going to negatively impact travel everywhere . . . the more each country, each group of people isolates from others, and the less we learn about each other, the worse off by far the world will be.

Well said, beach dweller.