VISITS to the United States from countries outside of Canada and Mexico fell to 21.7 million in 2006, down 17 per cent from a peak of 26 million in 2000, according to US Commerce Department figures reported by The Associated Press.
"The global pie of international travel is steadily increasing, while the US share has been slowly decreasing," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association.
The Senate Commerce Committee has approved Bill S-1661 to establish a nonprofit public-private corporation to promote US as a destination and create a new Commerce Department office to reform entry processes that discourage traffic.
"It's a situation that really is disastrous when you take into account global trends, and the fact that the US currency makes travel to the country so attractive," said Adam Sacks, of Oxford Economics consultancy, whose recent study reckons post-9/11 costs of US$100 billion in lost spending.
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