Travel was once only for the elite of this world. They knew the luxury of being pampered and the education from visiting somewhere new. Nowadays, travel is for all, but some places including the United States are hard to visit. With the constant fear of illegal immigration and anchor babies, many people are stopped at the border and interrogated, even though they have a visa or other adequate documents. The process of traveling to the USA is not a friendly one, and Douglas Healy believes that in order to curb the problem of dwindling tourism rates, America has got to change its ways. But how do we do it? Doug has got a few ideas, and they are all attainable goals.
Soften the security
Airport security is an aspect of daily life post 9/11, but there are ways you can tone down the security while still maintaining it. Many travelers are intimidated by the security at American airports. They feel that TSA has a negative tone and that the general set up at the border is not welcoming at all. This can be achieved by creating more lines in the airport and getting passengers to fill out more forms on the plane than they do already. Further emphasis must be placed on the attitudes of the TSA agents themselves. Instead of a ready to pounce attitude, perhaps they could receive some sensitivity, anger management training courses or maybe just learn to joke a little.
America needs to accept that the fact that all money is good money
The trouble with the current tourism marketing trends is the lack of advertising to countries of a lower socio-economic bracket. While focusing on the EU and richer countries in Asia, the USA is missing out on substantial tourist dollars from growing economies such as Thailand and Indonesia. With a marketing shift towards previously untouched nations one can expect a tourism boost.
The current administration is putting people off travel
With the current administration, there are those in the world who are put off by the prospect of travelling to the USA. If we want to get more tourists in, then we need to go about repairing the image we have on the international stage. Perhaps the focus could shift from world politics to a better acceptance of globalization and strength in economic ties. Attracting tourists is all about perception and the current perceptions are not favorable if we expect to see a boost in the economy via tourism.
Fixing our international rifts will help
With the daily threats from North Korea and Iran, among other nations, there is a constant fear of travel to the USA. Tourists fear WWIII breaking out, or worse, a nuclear fallout, because of the tensions between the US and North Korea. We need to show people that travel to the USA is just as safe as anywhere else and stick by our fearless attitude in the face of terrorism and dictators.
We are not selling ourselves hard enough!
If you think about everything America offers, we are truly a one-stop-shop. America has everything. We have mountains, beaches, forests and woods. We have famous geographic locations, mardi gras, an American-born religion, waterfalls where couples wed, a famous capital city; we have it all. If we only worked on selling ourselves more, then tourism numbers would boost significantly. We have to work as a team with local tourism boards to find ways to sell ourselves to the rest of North America, as well as the world.
We are leaving US dollars off the table
In marketing tourism, how much of it are we doing in our own backyard? We have many Americans who travel out of the US for their vacations, but why are we not encouraging them to stay in the US and fuel the economies of their own or other states? Homegrown tourists are just as good as imported ones.
Douglas Healy has been concerned with the decline of tourism dollars for years and hopes that with the tips above, America can boost its tourism numbers and fuel or struggling economy for a better tomorrow