US visa rules restrict tourism-Hawaiian Airlines
by Michelle S - December 8, 2010
United States, 8th December: Current US tourism visa rules are stifling the growth of tourism in the nation, states the head of Hawaiian Airlines, Mark Dunkerley.
Dunkerley said that relaxed US visa rules would attract higher number of tourists from China to the US. As of now, all Chinese wanting to come to the US require a US tourist visa.
Getting a US tourist visa is quite difficult for Chinese citizens and this is preventing many Chinese to visit the US, CEO and president of Hawaiian Airlines Dunkerley asserted.
He added that there has been a noteworthy increase in the number of South Korean visitors coming to the US after the US tourism visa rules for South Korea were relaxed by the US government in the year 2008. Hence, South Korean nationals can visit the US without a US visa as per the US Visa Waiver Program.
Referring to the growth of tourists coming to the US from South Korea, Mr. Dunkerley said that an even higher growth rate is expected in the coming years in the number of South Korean tourists heading to the US.
In a span of nine months this year, there has been a growth of 50 percent in the South Korean tourism in the US over the same period the previous year, the official US government figures reveal. Japanese have a special attraction for the Hawaiian Islands in the US for quite some time now.
Figures maintain that the total revenue generated by the US tourism to the economy was US $100 billion.
Mr. Dunkerley stated that tourism not just to Hawaii but to the whole of the nation is an integral export for America. He added that the US tourism visa rules must be relaxed in order to gain substantially from such exports.
Increased focus on the US tourism industry can also prove helpful in overcoming the economic crisis gripping the US economy, asserted Mr. Dunkerley.
Experts maintain that the nation must increase its efforts in promoting the US as a tourist destination if it wants to remain competitive globally.
Hawaiian Airlines has announced its plans of introducing six additional Airbus A330-200 air planes as part of the expansion program into Asia including an in-flight service.
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