U.S. Travel Association branches out for more tourists

The U.S. Travel Association are looking forward to continuing an upward trend of international arrivals this year, and are making strides to ensure visa and immigration issues are not hampering visitation.

"As a travel product, the United States is simply unmatched and it is constantly evolving," National Chair of the U.S. Travel Association & Choice Hotels International President and CEO, Stephen Joyce said during a key note speech at Pow Wow 2010. "That's what's so exciting for returning travellers and for visitors making their first trip to America."

Mr Joyce said several proposed changes are being made to further grow the travel industry further. "We have made a lot of progress with the enactment of the Travel Promotion Act, but travel promotion is by no means the extent of our international activities," he said.

Mr Joyce said in order to ensure growth in international markets, "a combination of visa reform, entry improvements and promotion" was required to be put in place. "To that end, two visa initiatives are underway with the U.S. government."

Mr Joyce said efforts to protect the Visa Waiver Program is of key importance and has been successful in introducing new countries to the scheme in the past year, but are specifically targeting Brazil, Argentina and Chile for inclusion.

He said the U.S. Travel Association was continually looking for "creative and secure solutions" to improving visa application processes for citizens that require a visa to visit the United States, and has even begun test programming for video conferencing.

"If this program succeeds, travellers who wish to visit the U.S. would not need to travel hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate for a face-to-face interview," he said.