VEGAS INC Archives
U.S. companies are losing millions of dollars in international commerce because the process of securing a travel visa to the United States is so cumbersome, a panel of experts concluded today.
The panel discussion, a prelude to this week’s World Travel and Tourism Summit at Aria, was hosted by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for convention sales teams at resorts so they could fully understand how the visa issue is affecting international business travel to Las Vegas and the rest of the country.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., and a representative of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office also attended.
Representatives of three major trade shows that call Las Vegas home — the Specialty Equipment Market Association automotive show, the National Association of Broadcasters and ConExpo-Con/Agg — were panelists. They and four other panelists gave perspectives on how visa approvals could be streamlined and shared a few horror stories about business travelers who wanted to come to the U.S. to participate in trade shows, but were discouraged by the onerous process.
The problem is compounded because not only are foreign businesspeople discouraged from traveling to the U.S. to network at shows, but thousands of small-business representatives who would attend as buyers have a hard time getting in as well.
A study by Oxford Economics for the Center for Exhibition Industry Research determined that visa impediments cost the U.S. economy $2.4 billion a year because the average international buyer and exhibition attendee spends an average $13,600 a trip and international exhibitors spend more than $36,100.
“The perception is we don’t want these people,” said panelist Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “An article published in London illustrated with the Statue of Liberty holding one of those international stop signs said that other places have everything you could want in other countries. You can shop in Hong Kong, if you want to go to a Disney theme park, you can go to Paris or Tokyo. If you want to gamble, you can go to Macau. Our process isn’t very welcoming and the perception is we don’t want people.”
“We’re shutting the door and pushing (conventions and trade shows) to Germany and Japan,” added panelist Al Cervero, senior vice president of ConExpo-Con/Agg.
Panelists noted there are several reasons for the visa bottleneck, but most of them boil down to infrastructure and bad policy.
“There are 23 windows to serve visa applicants in Beijing, an office that serves millions of people in China,” said panelist Steven Hacker, president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events. “In Yankee Stadium, there are 40 ticket windows to sell tickets for 60,000 seats.”
China is one of four countries getting the most attention in the visa issue. The others are Brazil, India and Russia. All of them share the characteristic that they have growing middle-class families and businesspeople who have become capable of affording to travel internationally.
With a more functional visa process in Brazil, said panelist Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the LVCVA, the number of visitors from that country to Las Vegas could double.
China and Mexico have elevated tourism as one of five industry pillars to build their economies. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who will address the Global Travel and Tourism Summit on Thursday, requires his Cabinet members to give regular reports on what they are doing to elevate tourism.
One of the reasons the process falters is because U.S. consulates abroad are undermanned and only a handful of offices must process applications from all across countries that are larger than the United States. The U.S. has consular services at five offices in China, five in India and four in Brazil.
By comparison, Great Britain has 12 offices in China and 10 in India while France has six in China and five in India.
In addition to some applicants having to travel hundreds of miles for a visa application interview that may take less than 10 minutes, it’s estimated that a family of four would pay $2,650 just to apply. Many consulates are backlogged on interviews by four to five months.
Travel industry leaders have suggested that videoconferencing and Skype interviews could ease the travel burden and minimize expenses, but the State Department hasn’t changed its policy of conducting an in-person interview.
The panelists made it clear that they don’t want consulates to ease their standards to prevent terrorists from easily entering the country — just the process.
The U.S. Travel Association has forwarded a “trusted traveler” proposal to policymakers that would enable business travelers who fly internationally frequently to have a more streamlined process for multiple trips.
Dow noted that data should help separate the trusted travelers from those who would do harm to the United States.
He feels it’s imperative that the wait period be whittled down to 10 days at the most so that business travelers to conferences and trade shows can take advantage of less-expensive airfare and early-bird registration and hotel reservation deals.
One of the horror stories Hacker shared is that as successful as the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was in January, show managers learned that 40,000 people who planned to go didn’t attend because they were discouraged by the visa process.
He also said the Pan American Games, a major international sporting event that had been planned in San Antonio, Texas, was moved to Brazil because competitors and sports fans expected to have a hard time getting into the United States on visas. The International Olympic Committee also is looking at ease of travel as part of the criteria for selecting a host city.
“Everybody recognizes that business has gone global,” said panelist Chris Kersting, president and CEO of SEMA. “This is critical to our future.”