Survey: Cumbersome U.S. Border Policies Deter Foreign Travelers

Triumph of bureaucracy

WASHINGTON — Overseas travelers say they'll avoid the United States because of long wait times and inefficient entry procedures at gateway airports — and recommend to others that they too stay away, a new survey of foreign visitors out Tuesday indicates.

Forty-three percent of travelers who had traveled to the United States say they'll tell other countrymen and women not to visit because of the cumbersome entry process, according to the survey of 1,200 travelers from Britain, France, Germany, Japan, China and Brazil.

The survey was taken from January through October of last year by the Consensus Research Group for the U.S. Travel Association, which represents the travel industry and lobbies for its issues.