Turn on charm to lure tourists - Americans could help travel industry by being friendlier

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/28/7 | David Armstrong

[SmithL]

America, with its $645 billion hospitality industry, is increasingly seen as downright inhospitable by foreign travelers -- a trend that is worrying U.S. tourism officials and prompting them to come up with a charm offensive to lure international travelers.

While the number of overseas visitors to the United States -- about 55 million -- is the same now as it was 15 years ago, this country's market share of all international travelers has fallen from nearly 10 percent in 1992 to 6.5 percent in 2005.

The trend could damage this country's tourism economy, travel insiders say, especially in San Francisco, where 1 in 4 visitors hails from another country and the $7 billion-a-year tourist business is the city's largest industry by revenue.

There are many reasons for this country's shrinking market share, according to Cari Guittard, executive director of Business for Diplomatic Action, a nonprofit travel and tourism lobby formed to address America's image problem. Among them are the war in Iraq, Americans' perceived suspicion of foreigners, rude immigration officers at U.S. airports and intensified competition from other destinations. Travelers also complain that stepped-up security has made it more difficult to get visas to enter the United States, especially for visitors from Muslim countries.

And you can add Americans' manners -- or lack of them.

"We are seen as arrogant, ignorant, loud, and we don't listen,'' said Guittard, a former State Department official who worked for five years in the Middle East. "America's reputation has never been worse.''

[incredulous joe]

I agree, now here's the new tagline;

"Welcome to the greatest country on God's green earth. Now get the hell out!"

[Cecily]

"They come off as a bunch of ignorant oafs, slobs. Not only are they rude, but stupid as well!"


What you said, and amen. Oafish, slobby, rude, stupid (and all of the above carried out with major attitude) pretty much covers it.

[Shimmer128]

I agree with you, Americans are very friendly! Especially middle Georgia Americans. :)

I haven't been to other countries, but all around our own and I've found that Asians are often (not always) very stand offish and arrogant. Yet of course there are many who are not arrogant.