USA tourist industry about to collapse?
 

Just heard on the news that UK citizens have to be finger printed, have a mug shot, then queue in the rain for the best part of the day for the privilege of spending £65 ($130) per person, just to come on holiday for a couple of weeks to Florida!

So for a family of 4 that's $520 for visas, plus a few hundred for a day off work.(as each person travelling to the usa must turn up in person, including children who will have to take a day off school, as the embassy is not open on weekends.)

The extra expense of travelling to the States will deter many families from bothering to go, affecting the Olando resorts.

I hope all the European countries affected, and I beleive this is every country, turns around and does the same to the USA, making it as difficult to travel to any of our countries.

Well pissed off.:mad:

... absofuckinglutely !!

Who cares? I ain't travelling anymore and will keep it that way as long as countries come up with all those stupid new rules. There loss.

US tourist industry is not dependent on foreign tourists, the people residing in the US make the bulk of it ...

Wow that means you only have to wait 1 hour to ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney.

Its not so much the tourist industry thats going to be affected but it affects snap decisions about travelling to the states.

I could have made a last minute decision to fly out on the 4th to Vegas for the show. next year I won't have that choice, as a visa has to be obtained before I can come over.

It's going to be easier for many tourists to forget about going to the states on holiday and choose the Med or perhaps Aus instead. For an average family there won't be much difference in price between taking two weeks in Florida or three weeks in Sydney.

As for Disney etc, sure the place will still be busy with locals, but the profits will ceratinly be affected, as thosands of Brits and families from other countries visit these resorts every day.

I resent having my finger pronts taken and a mug shot, plus all the hassle of getting a visa, just because I want to ride on a few big dippers. Easy now not to bother.

While I understand what you are saying let's just get a couple of things straight.

#1 these are different times.

#2 when in Rome do as the Romans do...in other words obey the law of the land.

I've said it before on this board regarding flying in America from state to state and now I'll just apply that to the world.

If you want safety well here it is. In America we have the right to travel from state to state, town to town freely...however we do not have the right to do it as quickly as we would wish...and this applies to intercontinental travel as well.

Sure it's a hassle. But the simple fact is when travelling in country we are doing so on a federally regulated plane, that is being piloted by a federally regulated pilot in federally regulated air space. So now add the extra hassle and the extra laws when travelling from one country to another.

I hate to take a line from a silly movie...but it reminds me of when Austin Powers is telling Dr. Evil that this is a groovy time where we have both freedom and RESPONSIBILITY.

This is just another part of that responsibility.

of course its silly and the Brits will just go somewhere else. they're the biggest group of foreigners who visit NYC and florida... Bush will probably delay the measures due to lobbying

Where is the confirmation that the UK is on the list of finger printers and mug shots. I see nothing on the T.V. or the main news sites.

yeah, that's cause most of the people residing in the US have never, ever left the US.

If Rush says it's a good idea, then right wingers will support it. :)

Betcha Euro Disney's business picks up a little...

My US visa is expired and when I heard about fingerprints and all that shit I decided not to take a part in Vegas.I really don't feel any need to provide fucking US embassy with my fingerprints.

Why should we?

If you have a problem with it, don't come here.

because then you might actually get a clue.

exactly

Was just waiting for that comment. retard! get out, go to some countries learn about the world & different cultures.

Pretty fucked up...

Link?

It was all over the news for a couple of days. Come away from the PC for 5 mins.

You really have no idea at all do you? Go and have a chat with the Disney people in Florida for starters :)

I saw it on the news a couple of days ago, but saw nothing about the UK being in the list of countries that have to give finger prints or mug shots. (Thought this was a new thing today about the UK).?

You are wasting your time, they still think America is Gods Own Country.

I don't think it's going to be UK citizens, which means our daughter and me are alright, we will just have to wait hours for Eva to get through the crap.

I always remember when I got stopped at LA and they asked me what was to stop me staying in the US. I replied that I did not like the country enough to live their and the immigration officer just simply did not believe me. As if anyone would not long to live in the US. :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Trues the BBC to give you the news right.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3367893.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3378057.stm

Read it and learn.

it is a pain, but it's just one of those things you have to do.

i was there in the queue last monday. 4 hours of queuing but i now have my visa :glugglug

ryan

UK diplomats say they are working with their US counterparts to try to save thousands of British visitors having to apply for visas to enter the US.
Currently British travellers can visit the US for up to three months without a visa under the "visa waiver" scheme.

But new passports issued after 26 October must hold "biometric" data such as digital images or fingerprints - or a visa will be needed.

The UK authorities will not be able to issue such passports before mid-2005.

British travellers holding a "machine-readable" passport - issued in Britain since November 1991 - can still travel to the US without a visa for the 10-year lifetime of their hahahahahahahahahaha

They will then have their fingerprints and photographs taken on arrival in the US.

But those who get a new passport after October 26, but before biometric ones are available, will have to purchase a visa at a cost of £67.

More than four million Britons a year travel to the US, and hundreds of thousands of them would be affected by the arrangements as they currently stand.

The dollar is so low compared to the british pound right now that British tourism to the US will be booming this year. Anyone want to make a bet that british tourism in the US is Higher this year than last?

may well be so, but this is still kinda fucked-up. (can see why it's being done, but there must be some other way to do it)

From the UK end.

To be honest, this visa thing is not very clear in the UK. No one is sure of when they will need one.

I do not think it will affect people going to America, in fact at the moment I would have thought there would be an increase, as its very cheap for us to go to the USA.

For us in the UK, you must realise that we have only ever had ID cards during world war two, and very few would want them. Its just the way we have got used to things. Most EU countries I think do carry ID cards, but not us in England.

At the moment it is poor communication in the UK about what is going on. I have not really heard much about it.

I think the main concern is having a 'gun man' on planes. The USA is insisting that all planes going to the USA from England must have a gun man on them in case of terrorist. The main airlines are all saying no to this, many pilots say they may not fly. That at the moment is the big problem. I think the gun man are called air marshals.

Air marshals have been vied as an overreaction in the UK. The main problem is if a bullet is fired, it WILL go through the plane creating problems, and so much safer not to have them.

You must realise that in the UK for many many years we have always had very tough security in the UK airports.

But, if another plane does get blown up, I suspect that it will mean many people not going by plane.

The truth is, if you really wanted to blow up a plane, I suspect that you could, regardless of what was put in place.

But as to the Visa thing, its mainly that its not clear in the UK who and when you need one. Its the air Marshall issue that is the big problem, and as I say, the Air Pilots Union, has said no to them.

I don't think a lot of parents will want to put their children through this procedure. But what ever way it will hurt the US more than the rest of the world.

Would you travel to a country where you are going to be fingerprinted and photographed on entry unless you had to?

So why are Americans convinced that it wil have no effect?

I would say that the British passport, driving licence and so on do themselves need to be improved, as it seems very easy (and cheap) to get forgeries done.

I'm sure I read somewhere that it only applies for some countries/regions and citizens of EU is not affected

Of course it will be. The rules don't kick in until October and then only for people who have to renew. However, the longer it goes on after October the bigger the drop. More or less nobody will drive to queue for hours in London and then pay, no matter what the exchange rate. However as they are planning to change UK pasports to comply (those sheep sounds from No10 continue to get louder) some time in 2005 it will only affect a smallish % of people. Even so, just a 10% drop in brit tourists will start to piss Florida off.

tTo be honest I think a lot of things have been done just to make people feel better, rather than improve things.

This sort of 'silly overreaction's has happened a lot in the UK too. A few years back all the newspapers had reports of 'killer dog's so many dogs were banned and new laws brought in. I think at most it was only 3 cases of dog bits, which would have never been reported except at the time it seemed to sell papers.

In the UK we pointlessly sent troops around an airport. I suspect it was to make us all more fearful.

We in the UK have been brought up with terrorism, but to be fair the USA has not, and I guess, if I was in the USA it would have been a shock. In truth, we should not need to improve security because of our past. If we do, then, serious questions should be asked why.

I am not sure. We seem to love to queue and complain. I will probably get one just so I can complain about getting one.

I bet you will find, more people get one than will use one.

Nothing better than a good complain. OK, it may be different for you in London, but for us in the North, we complain all the time. You should be at a train station when a train arrives on time, everybody is upset, nothing to moan about.

The point remains when there are so many other options it wont happen just for a Florida break for the reasons covered. If you think otherwise then it's of little surprise. I'll leave it at that.

:glugglug

Enlightenment?

It affects everyone in the UK. From October, anyone wishing to travel to the USA will have to queue for hours on end to get a visa, on arrival, the terrorist suspect will be fingerprinted and have a mugshot taken, kids included, before being allowed on their holiday.

There is a loop hole at the moment to get around the visa, and that is to renew your passport before October. A new passport will not need a visa, but you will still be treated as a terrorist suspect on arrival and be fingerprinted and have your mugshot taken.

I truly believe this will deter hundreds of thousands from going on holiday to the States in the future. The expense and aggro will not be worth it and the extra expense will mean families can go to more exotic places for the same price. Florida or Mauritious? Two weeks will cost the same.

Oh well, maybe there will be a nice show in a safe country in Europe this summer.

I made the forecast of the states getting hit by a tourist slump awhile back. Almost everyone i know from overseas, will not just give fingerprints to the US. It is scary to be so far from home, and then be under scrutiny of some Us customs official.

Perhaps. we will see an increase in tourism here.
Wonderland could be in for some big revenues.