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United States considering $10 "tourist fee" to pay for promoting tourism
A proposal currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress may soon charge visitors to the United States a $10 entry fee.The fee will go into a fund used to pay for promoting tourism. By now, I can imagine you are laughing about this (unless you don't live in the U.S.). The concept of having tourists pay for the PR activities of a country they are already visiting is completely insane.
The idea behind the bill is that promoting tourism should not cost the U.S. taxpayer, something I completely disagree with.
The European Union is obviously against the concept, and given the hassles tourists already encounter when they come to the country, I have to agree with them.
The $10 tourism sponsorship fee would be linked to the ESTA pre-registration system currently required for all visitors from visa waiver countries. When ESTA was introduced, foreigners were told that it would always be free, and by hiding the new fee as a "tourism sponsorship fee", the government obviously thinks they are keeping their word. The site currently says that there may be a fee in the future.
A family of five will have to pay $50, just for the right to travel to the States, in addition to any new luggage fees imposed by the airlines. This means a trip to the United States could start costing about $400 more than it used to - a price many people may simply refuse to pay, making them head elsewhere instead.
As always in the tit-for-tat world of immigration, if the U.S. pushes ahead with this, expect other nations to do the same to Americans heading abroad.
The end result could easily be a really well filled tourism promotion fund, but another slump in tourism and American tourists having to pay a reciprocal fee whenever they visit Europe.
One other thing to keep in mind, is that this fee (if implemented through ESTA) will most likely require a debit or credit card, something not everyone abroad possesses. ESTA itself is a horrible system, because it requires a computer to access, locking out anyone without Internet access. Now the penalty could be double - you'll need Internet access and a credit card if you want to visit the US of A.
The bill in question, and all details about the proposal can be found here: Travel promotion act of 2009. The bill calls for a non-profit company to manage the money, and proposes to fund it with $100,000,000 in its first year.
Filed under: Europe, North America
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stolen Sep 5th 2009 4:04PM
who the f*ck came up with this genius idea??
Bill Sep 5th 2009 4:11PM
If enacted, the proceeds from this fee would never go into the "tourism promotion fund", but would instead end up in the general fund, where it would be wasted on governmental boondoggles.
Richard Sep 5th 2009 9:04PM
Another poor idea by a money-hungry congress. We need to make it easier and less expensive for tourists to come to this country.
The Global Traveller Sep 5th 2009 10:07PM
I'll have to check the notes I made at the time to be sure, but I do recall when ESTA was launched being told there would be a fee in future. It hasn't taken long (ESTA went live mid January 2009 after a soft launch last year).
The laughable thing is USA still insists ESTA isn't a visa. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, then it is a duck.
As well as tourism promotion the fee apparently will be partly used to educate visitors how to complete the ESTA process. If it is that hard that non-Americans need educating then it should be simplified (or done away with).
dingodomdom Sep 6th 2009 7:23PM
Oh wow thats downright scary dude!
John Sep 6th 2009 7:27PM
Sorry folks, but this is not happening. There is no mention of this anywhere.
Coollead Sep 6th 2009 9:36PM
Apparently, the Congress website isn't enough proof?
Or this: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/How-a-congressman-brings-business-to-K-Street-8182767-56627042.html
Come on man, at least read the article before posting an ignorant comment.
exoteric Sep 6th 2009 10:50PM
Luggage and Visa fees are not in themselves off-putting, they are (becoming) a feature of travel everywhere. Indiscriminate searches and compulsory fingerprinting on arrival are off-putting enough to avoid a visit to the US of A.
Patrick Sep 7th 2009 12:07AM
I think the Cayman Islands does something like this...
Kiwi Tourist Sep 7th 2009 1:07AM
If the American government stop starting wars then you will have all the money to promote tourism and also pay for health and education. It's simple and smart, but I guess too complicated for the American government to understand.
Anyway I hardly travel to the US now days, it's an emtpy shell of its former self.
Daniel Sep 7th 2009 3:25AM
I don't get it. Nobody wants to go to the US nowadays and that's the way of promoting it?. It makes no sense at all. Americans could be making much more money from tourists if were truly welcomed, but it doesen't seem to be happening and it's quite a shame. In the end, you're the ones who lose.
newswede@gmail.com Sep 11th 2009 7:55AM
That is just evil. Seriously. Any true American would be ashamed to even know the person who thought of this idea.
Mark-Jan Sep 7th 2009 4:23PM
Lol...another fee, someone desperatly needs money.
As long as I can have a reciet, i gladly will pay the money in advance and forward the bill later with administration costs added to our US customers....sigh.
Daisy Sep 7th 2009 8:40PM
Speaking as a non-American...that would make me never ever bother visiting the US again. It's a really dumb move.
Saif Sep 7th 2009 10:28PM
Pure genius. So travel to the US is down and they want to increase the cost for everyone. As it is tourists from some countries have to pay a $100 visa fee and fill out a intrusive pointless visa app that requires you to put every address you ever lived in since you were a baby. It also asks stupid questions like "Are you a terrorist"
A lot of US tourists are canadians. Requiring canadians to carry a passport and requiring canadian permanent residents to have a visa cut a big chunk of US tourism.
As a non american who spent 12 years in the US, I'm definitely not going back.
Good luck with the planning.
Michael Sep 8th 2009 5:13AM
It will only lead to retributive measures by other nations, and overall make traveling more expensive and more complicated.
rob Sep 8th 2009 5:33PM
Bwhahahahaha who wants to even go to the states .One more good reason this Canadian will go to Europe and never visit the US
sphincter Sep 8th 2009 9:29PM
Great move by the worlds largest economy. Not that $10 is a massive amount of money, but charging tourists at the border when they're coming going to the US to spend some of their hard earned cash is not a good idea. If anything they should make it easier, cheaper and more attractive for people to travel to there.
Gal·la Sep 9th 2009 7:40PM
I am now a permanent resident of the United States and my family comes visit as often as possible. My parents are elder and don't have Internet access, making the ESTA process quite annoying. They are retired and do care about the money they spend. This fee is simply ridiculous. Plus, if they come visit me and my family: are they tourists?
In Spain, I worked as a tour guide, believe me when I say I am familiar with tourism regulations in Europe and many other countries. Never have I encountered as many difficulties as I have when travelling to the United States.
Since January 2009, many friends have given up their plans to come visit me because of the extra hassles. They have to struggle with ESTA, but this only gives them permission to board the plane, they still have to be fingerprinted at the port of entry and they might be denied entry to the country.
The fees for lugagge are excessive, also. They are willing to come to the USA and spend their money here, why do they have to be charged $10 extra each? I simply don't understand it.
I am also curious about the phrase that reads "promoting tourism should not cost the U.S. taxpayer". It's tourists who spend their money here, and believe me, when European tourists come to the USA they spend more than they do in many other countries.
I have never seen much promotion of the United States as a tourist destination back in Spain, although different regions from Spain and countries like Japan, Turkey, France, Norway, UK, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Australia and many others did advertise themselves. By the way, none of them charges an extra fee and they have a very successful tourism strategy.
I hope this nonsense will not go any further.