In a U.S. Senate meeting room today, the U.S. Travel Association released the Commission on Seamless and Secure Travel report, urging the federal government to make it easier for international travelers to enter the United States.
The report’s recommendations are focused particularly on the number of high-profile global events that are scheduled to take place in the United States in the next decade, such as golf’s Ryder Cup this year, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A. and the 2030 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City — not to mention the 250th anniversary of the country in 2026. These events could attract some 40 million visitors over the next six years.
Tackling visa wait times
One of the main issues facing international travelers who want to come to the United States are the extended wait times for visas. For instance, for residents of India the current wait is more than 400 days, while people from Colombia must wait more than 700 days.
"Those are problems the government made," said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of U.S Travel, who also noted that international visitation to the United States still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic; the number currently is just 85 percent of where it was in 2019, when the country had a $10 billion travel trade surplus, meaning international travelers to the country spent $10 billion more than U.S. travelers spent outside the country.
"Today, we have a $40 billion travel-trade deficit. If that’s not a critical situation, if that doesn’t speak to a lack of competitiveness, I don’t know what does," he added. "We’ve got to get these issues addressed."
Taking action for change
The 15-member Commission on Seamless & Secure Travel, which authored the report, was established by U.S. Travel after an eye-opening analysis revealed the United States is lagging behind its global competitors in the race to grow and modernize travel. The commission spent more than a year researching and compiling the extensive report.
The commission is led by Kevin McAleenan, former acting secretary of Homeland Security and former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. McAleenan is currently the CEO of BigBear.ai, a provider of AI solutions for national security, digital identity and supply-chain management.
Among the actions recommended by the new report:
- Establish White House leadership to showcase America at premier events.
- Implement a new, secure and streamlined visa process before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
- Invest in cutting-edge technologies like biometrics to end long airport lines.
- Strengthen, modernize and streamline airport customs.
Noting that the government's cuts are said to have been about waste, fraud and abuse, Freeman said, "Those are discussions we should always be having. [But] what we're talking about is investments to improve security, investments to improve safety, investments to improve the travel experience. That's the polar opposite of waste, fraud and abuse. And we believe that investments in those types of activities are the types of investments that the administration is looking to make."
