Confusing tourism and immigration

The battle over immigration reform could get heated, and local tourism leaders hope the federal government’s efforts to reduce visa wait times aren’t lost in the shuffle.

Republican Rep. Joe Heck hopes to give the system a “JOLT.” He introduced the Jobs Originated through Launching Travel Act in March and recently met with tourism leaders to drum up support for the bill, which would reform outdated visa laws.

Heck said that between 2000 and 2010, international travel grew by 40 percent, while the U.S. market share fell from 17 percent to 12 percent. He attributes the downturn to an inefficient visa application process. Many prospective tourists dismiss trips to the United States because of a cumbersome application process or because they can’t get a visa interview in time.

Building international arrivals has been a key economic strategy for Las Vegas for years. Clark County invested heavily in a new international air terminal, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hopes to increase international tourism from 16 percent to 30 percent by 2020.

The LVCVA sees South America as a tourism gold mine. Thousands of Brazilians are learning more about Las Vegas and want to come here. The LVCVA even sent emissaries to South America to market Nevada.

Panama’s Copa Airlines also sees rich potential in the market. Copa in June started running three nonstop flights a week from Panama City to McCarran International Airport. It has since expanded to offer daily flights.

Copa flies tourists from several locations in South and Central America to Panama City, where they change planes for a flight to Las Vegas.

Heck said the JOLT Act could attract as many as 98 million more visitors to the United States, create a million jobs and generate as much as $859 billion by 2020. But any amount would be a huge benefit to Las Vegas.

So what’s the hang-up?

“The idea behind the travel and tourism visa somehow gets lost and confused with the general immigration debate,” Heck told me. “Folks are just concerned about bringing up anything that has to do with immigration. That’s what we’re trying to break through. We’ve got to address the broken legal immigration system, which not only deals with those wanting to come here as immigrants but those who want to come here for business or as a tourist. We’ve got to get the people on the committees to realize that these are two different issues.”

Heck said he hasn’t seen any opposition to his legislation. The rest of the Nevada delegation is on board with JOLT, and tourism associations nationwide have endorsed the plan.

In 2011, Heck tried to legislate similar visa reforms with the “Welcoming Business Travelers and Tourists to America Act.” Some lawmakers got stuck on provisions that would have allowed teleconferencing for visa interviews. Heck says he doesn’t expect to face the same issue in the JOLT debate.

What could be problematic, however, is that in opponents’ zeal to close the doors to immigration, they also could block visitors who want to spend only a few days in Las Vegas for business or pleasure. If that happens, they’ll be diverting tourism dollars, too.