Erecting Barriers to Remove Them

Matt Welch | June 17, 2009

The Senate is currently chewing on the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which

would establish a non-profit corporation to better communicate U.S. entry policies to international travelers and promote leisure, business, and scholarly travel to the United States.

The problem this bill is allegedly intended to solve? "Overseas travel to the United States has decreased significantly" since Sept. 11, 2001, partly as a "consequence of erecting barriers to travel." The funding mechanism by which this new non-profit P.R. firm will counteract these barriers to entry? As DRJ of Patterico's Pontifications points out, part of it will come from ... a new $10 fee assessed on every foreign traveler.

Meanwhile, the bureaucratic back-story is as depressing as it is predictable:

Since the creation of the U.S. Travel Bureau in 1937, the federal government has promoted travel.  In 1961, the U.S. Travel Service (USTS) was created to increase travel by foreign nationals through advertising.  However, in the late 1970's, Congress began scaling back federal funding for advertising until it was eventually eliminated in 1996 and along with it the USTS's successor agency, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA).  After a 12 percent drop in tourism receipts and a loss of 390,000 related jobs following 9/11, Congress restarted federal advertising in 2003 and created the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (USTTAB).  This board is comprised of senior travel and tourism experts from around the nation who advise the Secretary of Commerce on how to increase foreign travel to the United States.

In 2006, the USTTAB released a report entitled, Restoring American's Travel Brand: A National Strategy to Compete for International Visitors.  The report encouraged the United States to remove unnecessary barriers to entry for legitimate travelers, including months-long waiting periods due to inadequate staffing in the Non-immigrant Visa Program.  The report also encouraged the creation of a federal office to coordinate governmental and private sector efforts to enhance the nation's standing in the global travel market, something commonly found in other nations.

Comments

|6.17.09 @ 10:22AM|#

The coming inflation should help tourism tremendously. The other day a Russian student studying at my university said he's staying here over the summer because "everything's so cheap here." Payback's a bitch, fellow Ugly Americans.

|6.17.09 @ 10:26AM|#

Is he from the Russia that's currently running 14% inflation?

Rich|6.17.09 @ 10:31AM|#

I think the legislation contains a typo. Surely this congress means to *pay*, not charge, people for coming here!

Kyle Jordan|6.17.09 @ 10:31AM|#

"Overseas travel to the United States has decreased significantly" since Sept. 11, 2001, partly as a "consequence of erecting barriers to travel."

Oy fucking vey...

If you make something more difficult to do, it's likely that less people will do it. Are there really people that don't understand this?

This reminds me of Beavis watching some Salt n' Pepa video over and over again hoping that this time, Pepa will stand up out of the bathtub.

|6.17.09 @ 10:39AM|#

Since the creation of the U.S. Travel Bureau in 1937, the federal government has promoted travel.

Could someone point out to me the enumerated power that authorizes this?

Warty|6.17.09 @ 10:49AM|#

Could someone point out to me the enumerated power that authorizes this?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

|6.17.09 @ 10:54AM|#

As DRJ of Patterico's Pontifications points out, part of it will come from ... a new $10 fee assessed on every foreign traveler.

Meh.

We Canucks will just keep our $10 and use it to help fund the NAFTA bridge. No sense stopping on our way to Mexico.

Forty-Two|6.17.09 @ 10:55AM|#

Genrul Welfare Claws!

InnerState Commerz Claws!

|6.17.09 @ 10:57AM|#

I believe that's the Interstate Commerce Clause, not the International Commerce Clause.

Further, I don't believe that the establishment of this agency is a tax to enhance the general welfare.

Any other nominees?

Forty-Two|6.17.09 @ 11:11AM|#

Jeeze, RC, you haven't even tried to switch into Progressive Rationalization Mode.

Countries are also called "States."

And revenue from tourists enhances the welfare of the travel industry. And that money multiplies and leverages all throughout the economy, enhancing the general welfare.

Easy peasy.

|6.17.09 @ 11:15AM|#

Captain Lavender! These raisins are building a barrier... and we need to build a wall to knock it dooooooown.

|6.17.09 @ 11:41AM|#

"Wait- you put that hole in the wrong place; move it over there, to the other side of the yard."

Telly|6.17.09 @ 11:42AM|#

I'm surprised they aren't going to charge Americans the ten bucks for traveling overseas, and use that to fund the solicitation of international travelers to come here.

Obama wants Americans to pay for everything else, why not this too? Especially if they're rich enough to travel, you know.

Invisible Finger|6.17.09 @ 11:46AM|#

Let's just reclassify illegal aliens as tourists. Problem solved.

Plus it keeps Lonewacko occupied. A bored Lonewacko is a mass murder waiting to happen.

|6.17.09 @ 12:00PM|#

I believe that's the Interstate Commerce Clause, not the International Commerce Clause.

This must be "Teach your lawyer about the law day":

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

|6.17.09 @ 12:03PM|#

Actually, I think that foreign traveler fee might be covered in Art I, Sec 9, and they even got the amount right:

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

Mister DNA|6.17.09 @ 2:58PM|#

This could catch on. Foreigners pay 10 bucks to get in the US... then they have to buy a book of tickets for admission to individual cities and states. NYC, LA, Chicago are E tickets, Detroit and the entire state of Delaware are A tickets.

Helper|6.17.09 @ 9:51PM|#

Whatever. I'd pay an extra ten bucks to be told how to get through a strip search with some dignity.

That's less than the cost of a drink on a plane these days.

|6.18.09 @ 9:59AM|#

Ridiculous! I live near the US border and, in my teenage years, we would regularly cross for a couple hours to have supper or a day to shop. Now, not.

Increased screening means there is often a 20-30 minute wait to clear customs. Now, people need a passport too. A $10 fee will eliminate the few casual border-crossers that are left.

I guess I'll shop at home instead.

|6.18.09 @ 4:31PM|#

"Integrity, Team Spirit, Innovation" is sewn around the border of the TSA (T-hieve S-talking A-irports) patch.
Have you EVER seen an organization that had to SEW A REMINDER not to STEAL, LIE, and CHEAT on their own shoulders!!!! They STEAL from the "confiscated" items, BACK-STAB the PASSENGERS (and their CO-Workers) and "INNOVATIVELY" CHEAT on their own tests.
Security Theater? Meanwhile .... The TSA is confiscating liquid, gel, and aerosol, worth millions of dollars. The alledged reason is these MIGHT be dangerous, toxic, explosive, poisonous, chemicals. Do you know what is happening to this treasure? The TSA geniuses are taking these "dangerous, toxic, explosive, poisonous, chemicals" and, tossing them into big bins, sorted by THE LABEL, and , UNTESTED or CRITICALLY EXAMINED
Gee. What if I was a "terrorist" and made a bomb that LOOKED like a common flammable item.
Yes, you are right. The TSA morons would accommodatingly take it from me,
put it in their pile of OTHER FLAMMABLES, and store it until MY bomb ignited the items it is stored with.
The TSA would have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who GAVE them the bomb, because they don't record such things.
TSA "officers" around the country are drinking "VAP" pop, water, etc.
(and accepting "gifts" of food, drink)
GEE, what if someone injected some hallucinagens? .....well ..... how could we tell if THAT happened?........