World Tourism Network Co-Founder and President Dr. Tarlow knows, travel and tourism are about the creation of memories. Our memories of a location start when we arrive at an airport, seaport, bus, or train terminal. They continues when staying in a destination, interact with people, culture and attractions, and ends when leaving the country with ever lasting positive images.
From Honolulu to New York: The Visitors Experience starts at the point of entry
Travel professionals have long understood this principle, so they struggle to create positive first (and last) impressions for a U.S. vacation starts at a points of entry and departure.
Often the way visitors are treated colors their entire travel experience in a locale. What is true of domestic takes on even greater importance in the case of international travel.
In many cases international travel involves long and tiring voyages and the crossing of multiple time zones. International travelers are often exhausted and anomic, hungry and desirous of merely using rest room facilities.
The First Impression for our Visitors is the most important
In far too many cases these travelers are greeted not with a smile, but rather with long and exhausting lines before they are able to speak with an immigration officers. By the time the visitor has his/her first contact with a human being, our visitor is tired, perhaps angry and frustrated.
Not only do these visitors tend to judge a location based on their port of entry experience but often their experience with immigration officers is anything but positive.
The job of a U.S. Immigration Officer is not easy
It is not easy to be an immigration officer.
The lines are long and to some extent the work can be tedious. The job’s difficulty, however, has nothing to do with any particular visitor and the incoming visitor has every right to expect pleasant and courteous treatment.
Unfortunately, this expectation is not always realized. Numerous reports from the immigration experience in countries around the world, including the United States indicated that immigration officers are often inconsistent, sporadic or random in the way that they treat guests.
Don’t Forget, Visitors spend money in the host country
At times they see visitors, not as guests who come to spend money and therefore help a nation’s balance of payment, but rather as potential criminals who should be treated at best with distain and in too many cases are detained and/or denied entry.
It should be emphasized that in an age of human trafficking and international drug smuggling immigration officer do an essential task. When they commit an error, their mistake can be not only costly but can result in a myriad of crimes.
The Immigration Experience can Destroy a country’s reputation
Because the immigration and customs officer’s work is so important when they commit an error or deny entry to a legitimate visitor they political and promotional harm done hurts not only the innocent victim, and the local community but can destroy the reputation of an entire nation.
For example, recently a number of legitimate travelers to the United States have been wrongly detain for what would appear to be simple capricious reasons.
Why are there Travel Warnings against the U.S.
These false accusations have hurt the United States’ reputation, which in a time of necessary costs savings, have caused numerous nations to issue travel warnings for their citizens regarding travel to the United States.
The result has been harm to the nation’s reputation and a major economic loss to its economy.
Tourism is a perishable product
Tourism, especially leisure tourism, is a non-essential and perishable product.
For example, once an airplane leaves its destination, the airplane’s empty seats become lost revenue. The same is true for hotels and restaurants. All three of these industries deal with perishable products and once the date has passed there is no way to recoup the loss.
This perishable reality is why reputation is so important. Multiple destinations around the world have suffered, especially the SME (small and medium enterprises) due to fear of false arrest, fear of crime or war, or fear of illness. In all cases, there is a direct link between the success of a tourism industry and the nation’s reputation.
Because visitors do not have to go to any specific locale, once a nation’s reputation is harmed, recovery is not only a slow but also an expensive process. We only have to look at Aruba’s Natalie Halloway crisis to realize the impact of a damaged reputation on a nation’s economy.
Tourism is Big Business, also for Reputation
The travel and tourism industry plays a major role in the United States’ economy. It is estimated that the overall impact of tourism at the end of 2023 added approximately 2.36 trillion U.S. dollars to gross domestic product (GDP) and much of those earning were due to non-US citizens visiting the United States.
The way our government treats our guests greatly enhances or undermines the United States’ reputation and the tourism industry’s ability to make American tourism great again.
It is not enough to complain when mistakes are made. There have been complaints about poor service on the part of U.S. government officials for over 30 years.
Lets make the U.S. a Land of Tourism, Freedom and Justice for ALL again
Instead in this time of realignment we must provide those in immigration and customs the tools and training to assure that visitors come to the United States, spend money, and once they return home tell their friends and neighbors that the United States is truly a land of freedom and a lifetime experience based on the words of the pledge of allegiance, with liberty and justice for all.
World Tourism Network has a Solution
Texas based Dr. Peter Tarlow, the president of World Tourism Network, and founder of Tourism and More has the experience having trained and launched tourism police domestic and international, including officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Consulates and Embassies.
In cooperation with the World Tourism Network Dr. Tarlow and his team will reach out to U.S. authorities and offer training, so visitors to the United States can once more be greeted with a smile and open arms.
World Tourism Network Chairman, German-American Juergen Steinmetz wants the formerly detained German visitors Jessica Brösche and Nikita Lofving, Charlotte Pohl, and Marie Lepere to come back to the United States, so they can experience that the people and tourism are making the United States truly great.