International travelers, according to Travel Industry of America (TIA), spent $106 billion in the United States in 2006. A 1% increase in the number of inbound visitors would provide an additional $12 billion in expenditures…create 150,000 new jobs…increase payroll by $3 billion…and generate $2 billion more in federal, state and local tax revenue.

From the beginning, the deck was stacked against comprehensive immigration reform. The proposed bill was deemed far too liberal by conservatives…but not “family-friendly” enough for some of its strongest proponents. An autopsy reveals many reasons for the legislation’s failure but the last word goes to Kentucky Republican Senator Jim Bunning. “Are we supposed to believe,” he said, “that the same government that cannot even get passports into the hands of its people is going to complete background checks on 12 million immigrants?” Nolo contendere.

Passport applications have overwhelmed the Federal government, leading to postponement of new border rules mandated by Homeland Security. My passport nightmare actually goes back tnearly a decade.

I was one of the leaders of a Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) delegation headed for the EIBTM trade show in Geneva. Our first stop was The Netherlands where I arrived safely…with an expired passport. I had inadvertently packed my old passport, the one with all the cool stamps, instead of the one I’d recently renewed.

Read the rest of this entry »

In mid-April, the British pound rose above $2, its highest level against the dollar since 1981. While that’s not good news for Americans traveling abroad, it’s cause for a British invasion. Travel agents in Great Britain reported a 30 percent increase in bookings for American vacations as the pound inched upward. And with the dollar’s value against the euro continuing to fall, other Europeans may be joining them.

The bottom line? International demand will add to the current room compression scenario, putting even more pressure on rates in gateway cities like New York and Washington.