Simple visa reform could means billions in tourist income
Travel officials have long urged visa reform and now there are some hard facts of why it benefits countries such as the US. Apparently for the first time, statistical research supports the case.
Countries could boost their international tourist numbers by another 122 million visitors and generate an extra US$206 billion in tourism by making the process easier, according to research by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and UNWTO (UN World Tourism Organization).
"Preliminary findings show that of the 656 million international tourists who visited (top) tourist countries in 2011, 110 million needed a visa, while millions more were deterred from traveling by the cost, waiting time, and difficulty of obtaining a visa," writes eTurboNews.
The US and other countries have moved in recent years to facilitate visas but in spite of the great strides made in recent decades to facilitate tourist travel, "further opportunities include improving the delivery of information, facilitating current processes to obtain visas, differentiated treatment to facilitate tourist travel, instituting eVisa programs, and establishing regional agreements for visa facilitation," the site says.
David Scowsill, President and CEO, WTTC, said:
"Encouraging freedom to travel is a simple step that governments around the world can take to encourage more travelers and the creation of millions of new jobs and billions of dollars of GDP – without compromising national security. For the first time, this report makes clear the extent of the opportunity."
By David Wilkening
David
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