Travel Industry to Homeland Security: Fix Customs Delays

Despite improvements, the U.S. economy is still hurting. At least one reason why is a cumbersome entry process for international visitors to the United States, according to a coalition of 80 travel industry organizations organized by the U.S. Travel Association, which this week sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urging him to infuse U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with additional resources so it can make needed improvements in the nation’s foreign entry process.

Public and private entities from throughout the travel sphere signed the letter. Among them: American Express Company; Avis Budget Group; Expedia Inc.; Hilton Worldwide; Marriott International; 14 of the nation's largest airports; and city and state tourism offices from across the country.

“In recent years international visitors and U.S. citizens returning to the U.S. have faced significant wait times at major air and sea ports of entry — surpassing four hours for primary processing at some locations,” the letter reads. “These delays undermine the ongoing efforts of cities and states to increase international visitation and threaten valuable revenue derived from international traveler spending.”

The letter points out that overseas visitors spent $99 billion in the United States in 2012 — an average of $4,400 by each overseas visitor. “Lengthy air and sea port CBP wait-time delays will only discourage return visits and send the message to prospective visitors that the U.S. arrival process is not a welcoming environment for foreign visitors, potentially costing the U.S. economy billions in spending,” it continues.

FY2014 Homeland Security appropriation call for hiring 2,000 additional CBP officers; the letter asks Johnson to make at least half of those dedicated to high-volume airports of entry where delays are most severe.

The letter also asks the Department of Homeland Security to develop metrics that would help deploy CBP staff in a way that reduces wait times.

Finally, the letter points to areas of success in modernizing the customs entry process — for example, the development of the Global Entry and Automated Passport Control programs — and urges expansion of those efforts.

“The benefits of inbound travel are so widely understood that we hardly need to preach about them anymore — the massive tax revenues, the creation of unexportable jobs, the hugely positive contribution to our trade balance,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement. “President Obama clearly understood that when he set the goal of attracting 100 million international visitors annually by 2021. But we need to invest in order to make that goal workable — and if we do, the return on that investment will be gigantic and directly touch Americans in every corner of the country.”