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Europeans complain about U.S. travel fees
Extra fees charged by airlines, the "new normal," are so popular that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has gotten into the game. And, bitching about these fees is equally popular, prompting the European Parliament to sound off like its members are Ryanair passengers with full bladders and no coin for the slot.
At issue is a planned $10 charge for Europeans coming to the United States. The European Parliament calls the charge unfair, saying it amounts to a new visa restriction. Enrst Strasser, a lawmaker from Austria, says that the requirements for entry under the Obama administration are even harder than they were under the previous (U.S.) government and that for us is a contradiction that we in the European Parliament cannot accept," Austrian lawmaker Ernst Strasser told Napolitano during a special hearing with her. "We really have to insist on our European values, that European data protection laws and European civil liberties also have to be taken account of."
Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, calls the fee reasonable, since the United States doesn't have an agency for travel and tourism, "unlike many of your countries," she said of the European states. The $10 fee would be used to "fund and help tourists and travelers who wish to come to the United States." Since budgets are constrained at both federal and local levels, Napolitano feels this is a reasonable move.
The money has to come from somewhere, and if Washington has to choose between taxing Americans and taxing everyone else, who do you think wins? Napolitano may not be an elected official, but her boss sure is. There's a pretty clear need for travel-related revenue in D.C., and the government needs to invest in promoting visits from overseas. When people cross a border to come here, that's a net inflow of money into the United States.
Despite European objections, the numbers suggest that this isn't a bad idea. Foreign spending in the United States has fallen for the past year, with drops becoming particularly severe last spring and continuing without reprieve. From August 2008 to August 2009, spending by visitors from other countries fell 21 percent, marking the fourth consecutive month of declines worse than 20 percent.
When it's time to pass the hat, nobody wants to reach into his pocket.
Filed under: Business, North America, United States, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nuno Machado Nov 8th 2009 4:06PM
Disclaimer: I am European, live in Europe and never visited US.
But US is surely a place to visit someday. And when you visit a country you expect to be welcome. If US government wants more revenue from visitors, they they need more visitors, which means spending more in promotion, ahead of a larger income. Saying you are going to charge $10 more to welcome visitors is not good advertising...
10 dollars per person might not be that much money anyway, and that's why this bad advertising is probably not worth it.
DJ Nov 9th 2009 1:05AM
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, $10???? If $10 is too much to spend, stay home!
It amounts to about 6 euros! Don't break the bank!
cblock2 Nov 9th 2009 10:20AM
The reason the Europeans are so worked up about this - which this post pretty much ignored - has nothing to do with the amount, or even a "tourist tax". It's the way this particular tax (fee, whatever) is being imposed - through the ESTA system.
Right now, foreigners (mainly Europeans, but including some other countries) visiting under the Visa Waiver program have to go on a website and complete the "ESTA", involving a lot of questions about their trip, then also have to fill out the I-94W form in transit to the US, which pretty much duplicates the ESTA questions.
By comparison, Americans visiting these countries (with the exception of Australia) only either fill out a simple landing card to be presented on arrival (e.g. the UK) or no form at all (e.g. Spain.)
Now what the US government is proposing is imposing the $10 fee not as a tax on tickets or an arrival tax, but a fee for using the ESTA website. The Europeans' objection to this is that the combination of the fee and the advance-completion requirement for the ESTA makes the ESTA, in effect, a visa, which violates the principle of reciprocal visa-waiver.
It also adds insult to injury by only imposing the "tourist-promotion fund fee" on our closest international partners (which is why we have visa-waiver with them.)
If it was just simply a ticket tax, there wouldn't have been anything other than mild grumbling, which we could easily counter by pointing to, for example, the extravagant air taxes imposed on visitors to the UK by the travel-hating Gordon Brown's government.
And if this new travel-promotion agency is really going to benefit the US by increasing international visitors, why shouldn't Americans pay for it through the general fund?
DJ Nov 9th 2009 11:36AM
Like I said, if they don't like it STAY HOME and travel around Europe on Ryanair!
Miami Hotels Nov 11th 2009 12:14AM
Oh its not fair to charge additional 10$ to visitors of U.K.
But there is something behind it check if it so... Find the proper reason behind it.
Other wise its not possible.
I am against it.