By:
Logan Murphy on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 6:33 AM - PDT
(Guest blogged by Nonny Mouse)
The travel and tourist industry is one of the United States’ biggest money-makers, generating $103 billion in tax revenue every year. Without this tax revenue, every American household would pay nearly $1,000 more in taxes every a year. But while the travel business is flourishing internationally, tourism to America has been on a steep decline, dropping 36 percent between 1992 and 2005, with a loss of $43 billion in 2005 alone. The nation’s international tourism balance of trade declined more than 70 percent over the past 10 years - from $26.3 billion in 1996 to $7.4 billion in 2005.
People are simply choosing to go elsewhere. But as a follow-on to Logan Murphy’s excellent post on the increasing invasion of privacy by the soon-to-be approved Passenger Name Record for passengers entering international airports, allow me to present a personal view into why tourists are deciding not to spend their money visiting the States.
I moved from Great Britain to New Zealand last week, requiring a flight of 26 hours crammed into a big metal tube with about four hundred other brave souls, the vast majority of us packed into the Economy Class part of a 747, with the usual narrow seats, no leg rests, and poor overheated air ventilation that inevitably leads to sharing every virus on board with everyone else. I dropped at least half my on-board meals down my cleavage trying to eat with elbows pressed together, my ankles swelled to the size (and shape) of a small elephant’s, my calves were a mass of cramps, my eyes throbbed from trying to watch too many movies on a tiny screen eight inches from my nose, my back ached from trying to sleep at twisted, unnatural angles, and my throat tickled with what I knew would end up being a full blown head cold. No, long-haul flights are not fun. People take them because it’s about the only way to get where they really, really want to go. And I really, really wanted to go to New Zealand.
At least there was a chance for a small break once we’d landed in Los Angeles to change flight crews, restock the food galleys and drinks trolleys and refuel the plane, a chance to stretch our legs in the transit lounge and take a breath of fresh air. So you would think…
And you would be so wrong.
We were told to disembark with all our carry-on luggage, leaving nothing on board. Those who were flying from London to Auckland were told to line up against a wall in a corridor while those whose flights terminated at Los Angeles filed past and disappeared. And there, in a hot, cramped corridor we stood and waited. And waited. And waited. I finally couldn’t stand it, and asked where to find the ladies’ loo – to be ordered not to leave the line. (Sod that, thought I, or rather, my bladder) and I wandered up the queue to discover that we were being processed, slowly, one by one, by a single officer in a tiny booth. After a quick dash to a toilet, I made my way back down the line to where I’d left my new comrades-in-arms – Judy, a petite, smartly dressed 61-year-old Kiwi schoolteacher in London on compassionate leave going home to Auckland to see her terminally ill father, and Derek, a wiry Scots engineer with an acerbic sense of humour. ‘You bloody Yanks seem to think terrorism is something new and only ever happens to Americans,’ he groused to me. Being possibly the only bloody Yank going from London to New Zealand, I became by default the sole available representative for my fellow countrymen. ‘We’ve had the IRA and the French have the Algerians and the Spanish have ETA. Now you know what the rest of Europe’s been living with for the last few hundred years. Why don’t you lot just grow up?’ Heads around us nodded in irritated agreement.
To our relief, we were finally moved out of the corridor, all following another LAX official to what we were expecting to be the transit lounge… but to our collective dismay, we were herded into a bigger Immigration area, where all those who were not US passport holders filled out long green cards asking detailed personal information, to be handed over to US Immigration officials busy taking everyone’s fingerprints and photographs. There was some confusion about just what to do with me, as I was a US citizen, but was flying on to New Zealand. Eventually, I was given a shorter blue form to fill out. A couple of students with worried expressions – Germans, I think, judging from the language – were being led away by uniformed police who were having interpretation problems. It was a very repressive and rather frightening atmosphere.
Bear in mind here… we were all ‘non-stop’ transit passengers, due to get straight back on the same plane we’d just gotten off and fly on to Auckland, never setting foot outside the airport and onto American soil.
Judy, in her strong Kiwi accent, demanded from one of the officials standing guard around us why they needed to take our fingerprints or our photographs. ‘It’s the law,’ he mumbled, a bit shamefaced, and spouted a few disconnected bits of pre-memorized clichés about terrorism and security before stuttering to a halt and looking away. Not even the officials at the airport understood why.
The Immigration official at the booth was not so polite to her. ‘Take your glasses off,’ he demanded. I could see her stiffen, an elderly respectable schoolteacher unused to being so brusquely ordered around. ‘I beg your pardon? Why do I need to take my glasses off? What right do you have to take my fingerprints or my photograph?’
Again, came the refrain. ‘It’s the law’.
We finally were allowed, once we’d all been ‘processed’, to sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee in the transit lounge… for about fifteen minutes before they reloaded the plane. Judy looked angry and close to tears. ‘I’ve never been treated like this before,’ she said. ‘It’s all one thing when you read about it, but having to actually submit to being fingerprinted? I feel… violated. Like I’m some sort of criminal.’
Would she ever consider returning to the States, as a tourist?
Absolutely not. And the next time she flew from London to Auckland, she’d make damned sure the flight did not stop to refuel in America.
This was pretty much the general feeling of every passenger on that flight – none of them had ever intended to enter the United States; it was just a place they had to wait in transit to somewhere else. But their experience had soured them on even considering the States as a potential holiday spot to visit. It didn’t matter how cheap the US dollar got.
And they have friends and families, too. Some people don’t like it when their 61-year-old mothers are treated like potential al Qaeda terrorists.
While the rest of the world is enjoying a boom in tourism, and our own tourist industry is begging the government for a let-up on such draconian policies, the abysmal way we are treating air passengers – even those who have nothing to do with visiting America as tourists – is costing the country millions of dollars a day, our reputation as debased as our currency.
We are not becoming a police state.
We are one.
5 Trackbacks To “Nonny Mouse Goes Down Under“
things are gettine worse
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tMACzBomDK4
Oh, damn—–Frist!!!
Oh, damn! *lol* NOT!
Security is ridiculous. Having flown to Israel recently, and seen how much more reasonable their security is, it’s mindblowing. However, once you start with the common sense arguments, the right starts to scream that we should profile. So instead of that, we overreact in the other direction. Where’s the balance.
Good luck in New Zealand, Nonny. And thank you for the well written article.
Did the German students make it back to the flight??
I think numbers like that are really fuzzy. It may make $103 Billion in taxable income, but that doesn’t directly translate into all that money still being needed. The travel industry COSTS a lot of money that are paid with those tax dollars. Without the tourist industry there would be less revenue, but less revenue would be needed.
Back to our regularly scheduled thread. :)
I’m Canadian, and I don’t mind needing a passport to travel to the U.S. now (we didn’t have to have one until recently). But I was alarmed by reading about that fingerprinting and name gathering stuff.
Think we’ll stay home and explore our own country…
You would think with the price of the dollar right now that we would be flooded with travelers from Asia and Europe looking for bargains.
After reading this first hand account of how our wonderful(not) government is and has been treating flyers, I wouldn’t fly(esp. commercial) if my life depended on it.
This sucks and frankly I hope it just sinks the tourism industry.
Nonny,
Welcome to Aotearoa New Zealand! In the future, fly through Singapore or Hong Kong to London to avoid LAX. LAX is notorious and the experience is always universally bad. Just what nobody needs on a long transcontinental haul. Depending on the transit time through Singapore, you can get a tour of the city, go swimming at the airport, or even take a hotel room inside the air terminal. What is so troubling about the USA is that it all the extra security seems to be about fearmongering. Its classic Orwellian. It certainly is not good security. LAX TSA was notorious for stealing stuff out of luggage and flogging it off at the local flea markets! It happened to us. You will find NZ as an enormous breath of fresh air.
We’re not a police state, we’re a national security state. For those of you who have been living in the parallel universe of middle clas america for the past thirty years, welcome to reality.
Michael @ 9:
Well, at least Coca-Cola, which has some 70% of their income from other countries, earn a huge profit from the currency rates, when they swap their income back to the US.
And I get lambasted on this site when I say how the USofA is the “new” Soviet Union.
This country was always meant to turn out this way. Anybody who truly knows the real history of the USofA knows this.
Things WILL get worse. You can bank on it.
Cafeenman, think of all those people that will be put out of work because there’s less demand for hotel maids, and any other tourist related jobs. In some places without the tourist dollar, roads aren’t repaired, hospitals subsidized, etc.
Our Administration is cutting off its nose inspite of its face (or however that saying goes).
Hell, even flying within the U.S. is ridiculous. You can’t carry on a tiny swiss army knife with a 2″ blade (really, can you bring a plane down with something like that?), you can’t carry on a bottle of water, and EVERYONE has to remove their shoes.
I’m reminded of the old saying, “That’s like closing the barn doors after the horses are out.”
bookworm @ 8:
a very wise choice because you might be trapped here when bush declares martial law in his eventual overthrow of america!
Oh Nonny, your post and story had me crying before the end. I felt as if I were watching a movie and seeing a friend being so mistreated. Like most movies, at least this one had a happy ending and you are in a country that is, from everything that I hear, wonderful. For that I am so happy for you.
Our country has lost it’s way in the name of fear. We are no longer the home of the brave. We are the home of the afraid and controlled. What a sad, sad situation. I don’t know if there is a way back for us at this point.
Ranger Jay @ 16:
Considering that the democrats tried to make armored doors to the pilots mandatory during the 90’s, but the republicans destroyed the initiative, its more like trying to jamming close the doors they refused to put locks on in the first place.
Hey - we’re missing a great opportunity here! We could have trained (or not) christians standing by to preach the word of
godbush to all these poor, lost travelers! Just think of the glory! To lead 400 souls to salvation through the lord our god,jesus christgeorge bush! Hallelujah!bookworm @ 8:
Many Canadians ,myself included, feel the same way. Hardly worth the bother to go to BushCo US anymore. Talk about nutty and paranoid. There is so much to see and do in Canada anyways. Most Canadians going south of US to catch some sun, Cuba included ,make sure they have direct non stop flights to their destination. We still havent forgotten the Arar affair either. Pleas from Canadian Government on his behalf fell on deaf and paranoid ears there too. Nice way to treat guests.
Really great guest blog. The founding fathers would weap if they saw the draconian nature of the junta
This kind of stuff happens on domestic flights, too. Not the fingerprinting, but the long, poorly explained waits & the understaffed & uninformed security is now part of our travelling experience.
Jeez, your story sounds like it comes from the depths of the cold war and is about a stopover in Soviet East Berlin.
Next time, if you have to fly from UK to NZ again, go the other way, stop over in Singapore, they have a hotel inside the airport with a lovely swimming pool inside the security ring, juts the thing to break up a long haul flight.
If you have a longer stopover it is trivial to leave the airport and visit the city, minimal red tape.
America is just off my vacation list for the foreseeable future, I am in the UK and can go to so many different places in the world without a whole list of self important clerks getting in my face.
Welcome to America!
If they thinks all fo this crap is making us safer, they are full lof shit!
Fear controls people, and this is exactly what they wanted, and it is EXACTLY what Osame wants. Cripple our economy, cripple our movement, and eventually bankrupt our econmomy by spending last last nickel on defense and security.
And guess who gets richer?
aloha nuie nonny mouse , have a safe trip and please keep thoes tyree sayings safe for postarity, send me a pic of you in your mori dance costume and for gods sake dont let them musculard mori indian guys eyeball your charms to much!
Why the hell would anyone want to come to America with all the shit that’s going on ATM? One minute you’re chillin’ on a beach next minute your snatched up by the goons in the black suits because your name is similar to some dipstick they have on a list somewhere.
Oh, and whatever you do don’t got to an airport if you have a long beard. Two words - No lube.
wow. i’m speechless. all i have to offer is –> :(
thank you for sharing, nonny. how depressing…
the day he declares martial law is the day all those civilian militias will implement their plans to create thier one race one god state..
I live in Manhattan, NYC, and the place is PACKED TO THE GILLS with tours, tour buses, and tourists.
Don’t have a clue what you’re talking about here.
Let’s see I can spend my money in any other country in the world and be treated like royalty or I can go to the U.S. where everyone wants your money but nobody wants to provide service, no deep thinking required.
I’m curious: Does anyone know what was causing the drop in tourist numbers before 9/11? Nonny’s figures start 10 years before the ridiculous and pointless security.
I, too, am horrified at this story. I certainly won’t be going to the US any time soon. There are more than enough other tourist destinations clamouring for my hard-earned money.
[deleted - check your attitude.]
I am sad, angry and outraged all at the same time. What you have described is SO unconstitutional it just blows my mind and I believe the Constitution applies to all, not just US citizens. The fearmongering going on is enormous and nothing can justify what you went through. My pride in this country has just taken another hit. Glad you finally made it to New Zealand, I’m afraid they may start getting many more US expatriates. We need to reverse course soon or it will be too late, I continue to hope it isn’t already.
On CSPAN-3 Conyers is once again attempting to obtain testimony from Harriett Miers
and Bolton under the duly issued subpeona, BUT he is AGAIN making statements that
he is recommending that further contacts be made w/WH and others in order to obtain
a “compromise”…What a whimp…
This short episode does a pretty good job of boiling the current reality in the U.S. down to its essence. We’re led to believe our “terrorist” problem is worse and different than anywhere else and we have an American iron fist answer to the problem. We’re acting like a not-so-bright, spoiled drama queen not thinking or caring about anyone else but herself, unaware that everyone else looks at her with a mixed sense of pathos and disgust.
shuttleworth @ 30:
perhaps you’re witnessing domestic tourism, not international. nonny’s not talking mere observation here. check the link RE: steep decline.
1984….just a few years late. Congrats adolf dubyah and his henchmen reich-wing.
el kanuckistani @ 39:
So, are you saying Canadians call themselves “Americans”? I’ve seen this hissy fit before; quit being a whining twit. When someone says America, it ALWAYS means the USA and there is never a confusion.
A·mer·i·ca
–noun
1. United States.
“There ought to be limits to freedom.”
~ George W. Bush
Our Country has indeed been hijacked by a bunch of Neocon Paranoid Fearmongers and this is the result- I am so sorry, ashamed, horrified, and sickened by it…to the passengers I just want to scream to them- I AM SO SORRY for what you have been enduring - it is like 1930 ’s Germany here- I - ME …A MOM..A NURSE..a Sometimes activist, very patriotic …I am on a NO FLY LIST…I can go by train, or car or ??? BUT NOT Fly….I found this out in 2005 when I tried to travel for medical care….So I KNOW that we are in Trouble, and Draconian Systems are dangerously in place….hurting all kinds of people…and creating a Police State….
thanks for sharing this Nonny….I am so sorry…
Well, at least you can carry your cigarette lighter on board. (shakes head)
I take a flight to Asia about three times a year, riding economy class on the 747’s.
A 16 hour flight.
My advice to all is get yourself a prescription for Valium. You really don’t care about the length of the flight nor the hassles accompanying the trip. And sleeping is easy.
christine @ 15:
It’s not the US cutting off its nose to spite its face (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cut+off+nose+to+spite+face). These are purposeful and senseless acts to acclimate people to the police state by fascists in our midst. This creeping police state has been going on for a long time now and was vastly accelerated by 9/11. This particular prong is not directed at US citizens except to the extent that it sends messages to US citizens, i.e., foreigners are dangerous, w