American business groups fears that new visa implications imposed on foreign travelers caused lose in terms of business benefits. A staggering number of business travelers shunned their trips due to abstruse visa and customs regulations.
The US business groups said this practice forces their business counterparts to choose other destinations, resulting in benefits to their opponents. A report states that foreign business travel to Europe rose 8 percent from 2004 to 2005.
The number of business travelers to the U.S. plummeted 10 percent in 2005 from the previous year, as per the World Travel Market, a London-based trade-show group. The National Foreign Trade Council says the entry rules cost U.S. businesses $31 billion in lost sales and higher expenses between 2002 and 2004.
This year the condition could be more disastrous as from the Jan. 23 onwards nationals of Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean will follow new visa requirements while entering the U.S. border via air. The passport rule will apply to land and sea travelers no later than June 1, 2009. By now, the nationals of these countries can enter by merely having a driver license. Americans citizens too are embedded with new passport systems as the applicants for new passports will get an electronic version of passport consist of a smart chip that impedes any counterfeit identification.
Via: DailyHerald
