ASTA is praising the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security (DHS) for the progress made in implementing the Administration?s National Travel and Tourism Strategy, as outlined in a report issued today.
?We commend the State Department and DHS for their successes in meeting key goals of the National Travel and Tourism Strategy, including an expansion of Trusted Traveler programs such as Global Entry and PreCheck, and for dramatically bringing down international visa wait times,? said Nina Meyer, ASTA president and chair. ?As the Strategy notes, travel agents play a critical role in today?s travel industry, including that of driving international visitors to the United States, so we stand ready to continue our work with the Administration to meet the Strategy?s goals.?
Among the highlights of today?s report:
Eighty-eight percent of applicants worldwide are interviewed within three weeks of submitting their applications, exceeding the Strategy?s goal of 80 percent. Average wait times have been reduced in key inbound markets such as China (to five days) and Brazil (two days).
Expansion of Customs and Border Protection?s (CBP) ?Global Entry? program, which allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk air travelers upon arrival in the United States. CBP has processed more than 1.2 million Global Entry passengers to-date in 2012, an increase of more than 500,000 travelers compared to the same time in 2011.
As of the beginning of August 2012, more than 2 million U.S. passengers were processed through the Transportation Security Administration?s (TSA) ?PreCheck? program, which is an expedited screening program now available at certain U.S. airports. TSA expects to bring PreCheck to a total of 35 domestic airports, encompassing 51 checkpoints, by the end of 2012.
According to the White House, in 2011, travel and tourism generated $1.4 trillion in economic activity and supported 7.5 million jobs (exports generated from international visitors supported 1.2 million of those jobs). This scale of activity makes tourism the United States? top services export.
ASTA was an active participant in stakeholder meetings at which the National Travel and Tourism Strategy was developed, and submitted formal comments in February to the International Trade Administration?s Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness, the lead authors of the Strategy, which in turn shared its recommendations directly with President Obama. ASTA also had co-signed comments submitted by the U.S. Travel Association and the Interactive Travel Services Association in support of steps to increase the United States? tourism market share worldwide and create business opportunities for travel agents.
ASTA has also supported the expansion of ?Trusted Traveler? programs such as Global Entry and PreCheck through a series of webinars, white papers and by invitations to officials to address industry conferences. ASTA arranged to have CBP at its recent Travel Retailing & Destination Expo in Los Angeles, where conference attendees who applied online had their Global Entry interview and were enrolled on-site (saving them a separate trip to a CBP enrollment center).