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BARACK OBAMA
President, US		 TALEB RIFAI
Secretary General, UNWTO

Joins Industry Voices

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, has joined industry voices in support of the decision taken by the Obama Administration to implement the necessary measures to improve visa and foreign visitor processing in order to create jobs and spur economic growth in the USA. “It is extremely encouraging to see President Obama calling for a coordinated policy to support a prosperous and secure tourism sector in the USA and, in particular, his recognition of the need to advance travel facilitation by enhancing and expediting visa procedures,” said Rifai.
“For every job created in tourism, another 1.5 jobs are created in other sectors and thus this is a key moment to support the sector. Travel facilitation is closely interlinked with tourism development and can be a vital tool to grow the tourism economy and create jobs. This objective is of particular relevance at a time in which economies are looking to stimulate their exports and economic growth but have limited capacity to use fiscal policy instruments,” added Rifai.
 “Let’s realize that in the years ahead, more and more tourists are going to come from countries with rapidly growing economies, huge populations and emerging middle classes; countries like China, India and Brazil,” said Obama as he unveiled a slew of measures, including accelerated visa procedures, to make it easier for tourists from these countries to visit US.
The USA ranks first in the world in terms of international tourism receipts, with foreign exchange from tourism reaching US$ 104 billion in 2010. Its share of global international tourism earnings has nonetheless declined from 17 percent in 2000 to 11 percent in 2010, with travel restrictions following September 11 often pointed to as one of the reasons for the decline.
Indian tourists visiting America in 2010 spent an average of $4,390 each (about ` 2 lakhs at the prevalent rate), toting up $2.86 billion for 651,000 visitors. In contrast, visitors from China and Brazil projected to grow much more than tourists from India (by 135% and 274% respectively), splurged $ 5000 and $ 6000 respectively per visit. For nearly one-third of Indian tourists, whose average age is 43 and average stay in America six weeks, the US was their first foreign travel.