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Foreign (Free Spending), Tourists Flipping The US The Finger ...
This afternoon we found the following headline - though we could never seriously consider the thrust of the piece re: falling US foreign visitors/spenders, to be actual 'news' to any of us outside the bubble.
U.S. security scares foreign visitors awaySee below for some selected snippets from the story.
According to figures from the Travel Industry Association of America, the number of travelers to the United States -- not including Canadians and Mexicans -- has dropped by 17 percent since 2001.Read the rest of the report here.
Despite a record year for world tourism last year and a weak dollar against both the British pound and the euro, the number of visitors from Western Europe dipped by nearly three percent over the previous
year.
The pinch has been felt by businesses from California to the sunshine state of Florida, which draws tourists with its theme parks and beaches.
According to industry lobbyists and analysts, the chief reason behind the decline is a convoluted visa process to enter the country and poor perceptions of treatment by pistol-toting and often stern-faced immigration officials on arrival.
While we won't argue with any of that since it's all too true, we cannot believe that anyone can seriously swallow a story that omits to mention - or even acknowledge - that there's much, much more to all this than that.
Such as the distinct possibility of being arrested and maybe genuinely 'disappeared' - after God knows what type of treatment's already been administered by armed to the teeth, power-mad, bully boy, control freak, wannabe-warriors policemen - a la so many other infamous, despised dictators/despots' totalitarian regimes.
The forlorn fact is - whether decent, honest average Americans will face up to it or not - that all hope of any true Habeas Corpus has actually to be absolutely abandoned by any foreigner choosing to chance setting foot on 21st century BushAmerican soil.
But to get back to business.
The glaringly obvious ommision of the unarguable prime factor in the decline of tourists from abroad, is almost as tragi-comical as old Brit TV's series starring John Cleese as Basil in 'Fawlty Towers' -- and in particular one highly hilarious episode which so readily springs to mind.
Remember Basil's bunch of German guests?
Here's a clue to help remind you.
"Don't mention the war!"
posted by Richard at Monday, March 12, 2007
13 Comments:
As an American living in Canada, I'm not sure that I can cross the border without tripping over the corpse of Habeus Corpus. R.I.P. Due process.
Canada is nice, though.
As a Canadian, I thank you to point that out Steve. However, we should under no circumstance be complacent, due to the ever-present US pressure, and the Canadian elite's willingness to sell-out our national interests, for US/Globalist circles.
The answer to the question what deters me to visit the US, is exactly what would've deterred me to visit the Sovet Union during the sixties, or Germany during the thirties.
I can just hear the uproar of protests, for commiting such politically incorrect blashemy, but in reality we've arrived at the juncture, when the difference between those historical systems, and the emerging one in the States, is purely superficial.
In reality the US is a tightly contolled autocratic system, which masks itself as a Democracy, with a simplified dichotomy, for the consumption of the masses, purely for the purpose of deception. For instance, it has two parties working for the corporate establishment, with no more difference between them, than between Pepsi vs. Coke, or Chevrolet vs. Ford.
Underneath that thin veil, there is the snarling face of a Homeland Security State, with all its odious apparatuses, such as an all permeating surveillance network, and strict and heavy handed law-enforcement.
Simply it's not a pleasant environment, to take a vacation in.
Tom has beaten me to it. Who in their right mind would want to walk voluntarily into such a place.
Hilarious? Tragi-comical? Try to beat this (from Richard's link).
Back in the United States, proposals include hiring 250 more Customs and Border Protection agents to work in busy airport arrival halls, and in consulting theme park operator Disney for tips on line management.
They should have done that a long time ago. For example, the day the Bushnecons first moved into government. And before the Iraq debacle.
Maybe if they had, hundreds of thousands of dead people would still be alive.
I wouldn't put one extra penny into the US economy, on principle. Honestly. And that's not just a smart arse comment, I mean it sincerely. It makes complete sense to me. If only enough others thought & acted the same way.
Rex, You've put your finger on the spot!!! I actively avoid any spending any of my hard earned on American goods and would need something much more powerful than wi;d horses to drag me to the accused place. In fact I'd ask people to question why they would need to visit that Godforsaken place at all and avoid if at all possible.
Hmmm. Money, eh?
The final nail in old Saddam's coffin was him dumping the dollar and switching to the Euro.
I see Chavez (who the US also now hate) and other South American oil producers are talking about doing the same.
Hmmm -- again
Charles--
"Back in the United States, proposals include hiring 250 more Customs and Border Protection agents to work in busy airport arrival halls, and in consulting theme park operator Disney for tips on line management."
Here's what I'd do: train the dogs that sniff out bombs and drugs to do tricks. So while you're waiting in line, you'd watch a black lab sniff at some guy's suitcase, then get up on his hind legs and dance in a circle for a couple of seconds. I think that would make the time go quicker.
Thanks for referencing one of my favorite 'Fawlty Towers' episodes, OB -- poor, unhinged Basil! He acted as though he'd been born at Ypres, evacuated from Dunquerque, and was one of the first Allied soldiers to reach Bergen-Belsen.
A good grin during an otherwise grim read.
I doubt that W's current swing thru Latin America will do much to stanch the tourism dropoff from that region. Having grown up in Orlando, I know that lots of Disney's foreign visitors came from places like Brazil (as well as scads of visitors from Britain, Germany, etc.)
No more, alas -- and for the very reason the linked article *doesn't* mention, as you point out! When a government seems as indifferent to its own people's welfare (q.v. Katrina) as it manifestly is to that of a nation it's trying to occupy and "transform into a democracy" (gag), the welfare of holiday-makers sure isn't on the authorities' radar screen.
I'm surprised only that the fall-off in international visitors to the USA hasn't been steeper, especially after the horrific experiences with those authorities that numerous Brits, Canadians, and Aussies endured when caught in New Orleans during the hurricane.
Talking of "Aussies" Mark, I'm an expat one. Most of us are as pissed with out little toad of a leader as you all are with the poodle. In toadying to BushCo he dragged us into this bloody mess too.
Now Cheney's been down under organising the madeness due to swamp out lovely country. Which, as you (via John Pilger, our national treasure) pointed out in a previous post has not even been discussed in parliament. And 95% of "Aussies" still don't have a clue as to what's coming this summer.
I'll tell you this - what "Aussies" ever did go or think of going to the US - have started thinking very differently lately. And I also know that some yanks knocking about around here are also "posing" as Canadians.
Just imagine having to hide you own nationality - somethinmg evryone should be bloody proud of - not ashamed of. What a sorry day for the whole bloody world it was when Bush's crew "stole" America.
Oos! I just realised you're an American Mark. And from what you say I see you're a "real" one - one of those who's not sold out re;his soul, pride or true patriotism.
I hope you see the back of Bush soon. Who doesn't?
The real reason that tourist traffic to the US is declining is because all the most interesting things to see in America are up on YouTube:
"...armed to the teeth, power-mad, bully boy, control freak, wannabe-warriors policemen..."
Why spend the time and money to travel to the US only to be harassed by the thugs, when you can get almost as furious while sitting in the comfort of your own home?
Please, if you're a leftist...
STAY AWAY.
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