In statements at the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus breakfast, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano outlined an agenda for the coming year. She claims that DHS covers five areas and had seven travel sector issues on which it plans to focus.
Napolitano addressing the following travel sector issues:
1. DHS is following the legislative activity on the Travel Promotion Act of 2009. Under the legislation, DHS will be responsible for collecting the $10 visitor fee from Visa waiver countries.
2. DHS supports the “Pass ID” enhancement of drivers licenses to provide adequate identification for domestic travel without passports. Urgent legislation sponsored by Senators Akaka and Voinovich needs immediate support. Without this legislation, some airline passengers will be turned away.
3. Money from the Recovery & Reinvestment Act will enable the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to screen baggage more quickly for explosives and reduce the number of airports that have separate locations—other than behind the counter—for baggage drop off.
4. DHS will improve border crossing facilities at land ports on the Canadian border (Mexican border facilities are managed by the U.S. General Services Administration).
5. DHS will expand the number of US customs and customs screening pre-clearance sites abroad. New sites include Bermuda and Shannon, Ireland.
6. DHS will create a more welcoming environment at entry facilities with films greeting visitors, better hospitality trained staff and broader multilingual capabilities within the U.S. Customs staff.
7. DHS will continue to work closely with the travel sector on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). Noting the recent drop in travel to and from Canada, DHS will cooperate on improvements in the implementation of WHTI, if it is one of the causes of this drop in visitation.
Clearly, DHS has its plate full with collecting money from visitors, Real ID, managing border crossing facilities, engendering good hospitality and improving travel between the U.S. and Canada.
Each of their recent initiatives has been faced with disaster. Real ID has been fought by the state governments tooth and nail, fingerprinting and humiliating customs and passport control has hurt U.S. tourism, Chile and Brazil are now charging all U.S. visitors the same fees as we charge their citizens, visa processes are draconian, and new Canadian passport requirements have hurt cross-border commerce (just as predicted).
I’ll also predict that the $10 fee we are deciding in Congress to apply to visitors is just the medicine we don’t need to encourage visitors to our country.
(Photo: superciliousness/Flickr Creative Commons)
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
