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Tourism

U.S. Travel Association CEO on Defending Visa Waiver Program Against Uninformed Attacks

Dan Peltier

Photo Credit: Roger Dow (left), CEO of U.S. Travel Association, and Chris Thompson, CEO of Brand USA, speaking during the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Dallas, Texas on April 6, 2016.  Skift / Dan Peltier

Skift Take

Roger Dow of the U.S. Travel Association said the first decade of the 21st century was the "lost decade," when international travel grew exponentially but visitor arrivals to the U.S. remained relatively flat. Shutting down the visa waiver program in in the wake of terrorist attacks would again halt growth just as numbers begin to show it's working.

As some members of Congress push to overhaul the visa waiver program because of security concerns, the U.S. Travel Association insists it's "defending" the 20 million member program and $54 billion in visitor spending it helps generate. "We are defending this program, because there are many uninformed folks attacking this program," said Roger Dow, CEO of U.S. Travel, speaking during the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday. Dow feels the Obama Administration has been one of the most tourism-friendly White House's in U.S. history. He thinks a shutdown of the program would "effectively end international travel as we know it."

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