International Tourism Suffering In Orlando
13.04.2007, 14:22
This is National Tourism Week, and the big challenge this year facing the Orlando-Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau is how to get tourists from overseas to return to O-town.
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"We have a problem. Post 9-11 travelers are not coming to the U.S. in the numbers they used to,” said Geoff Freeman, of the Discover America Partnership.
That's the message Freeman brought from Washington D.C., but the Orlando-Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau knows international travel hasn't rebounded since 9-11, and it hurts.
"We have roughly, approximately 50 million visitors who come to our destination, so five percent of that is international, but it represents 17 percent of our total revenue, so it's a very important market,” said Gary Sain, of the convention and visitors bureau.
Freeman heads up a group called the Discover America Partnership, and it has done some revealing research.
"The perception is that the U.S. has the world's worst entry process," Freeman said.
Is that understandable in a post 9-11 world? Not according to Freeman.
"We don't buy the argument that long lines, either at the Visa process or at the airport, are making us more secure. They just mean we aren't staffed properly," he said.
Orlando International Airport gets that part of it. The airport is re-doing its international arrivals facilities to simplify the process for foreign visitors, but the airport can't do much about the parts run by the Feds, and Freeman said his organization’s research uncovered an amazing attitude among foreign travelers.
"They said they were more fearful of U.S. immigration officials than they were of crime or terrorism, Freeman said.
Freeman wants tourism officials to lobby Florida's congressional delegation to do something about the situation, it will, he said, cost money, but not much in the grand scheme of things.
And speaking of the grand scheme of things, Sain said he wants half of Orlando’s tourism to eventually be international.
"Cause I think that's that important for the destination," he said.
Some tourism officials worry recent crimes against tourists could keep international visitors away.
News of two hotel holdups attacks and the rape of a German tourist in the International Drive area quickly spread overseas. The Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau contacted its office in Germany to monitor the response there.
Leaders said they are worried about a repeat of 1993, when the killings of 10 foreign tourists devastated the industry. International tourism dropped 12 percent. The state responded with security changes and so far crime in the tourism area remains relatively low.
According to Orlando Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's Office, in the past year there have been two murders in the tourist corridor, 54 robberies and 44 aggravated assaults.