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Tourism anticipates fallout

Homeland Security wants to toughen travel rules for Europeans.

By Steve Huettel, Times Staff Writer
Published June 14, 2007

CLEARWATER - Tourism business leaders looking for European travel to pick up in Pinellas County got a jolt of bad news Wednesday.

Comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he wants to tighten travel rules for Europeans entering the United States were playing badly in Germany, said D.T. Minich, the county's tourism chief.

While no changes seem imminent, the statements published by a major German magazine last weekend and picked up in other media may reinforce feelings that travel to the United States is too much of a hassle, he said.

"It seems like we've got another downward turn in terms of perception," Minich told the county's Tourist Development Council.

Nearly 900, 000 Europeans, most from England and Germany, came to Pinellas last year. They accounted for 17 percent of the county's 5.25-million overnight visitors.

That number was down 2 percent from the year earlier, the first annual drop since 2002. Tourism officials were shocked because the strengths of the euro and pound against the dollar have made travel to the United States a bargain for Europeans.

Those who do come here "are literally buying suitcases to bring stuff home," said Minich.

Florida doesn't break out numbers of European visitors. But travel by overseas tourists overall was down 2 percent, to 4.3-million, last year. Visits by overseas visitors, particularly Western Europeans, were also off nationally.

Tourism experts point to several reasons. Fuel prices sent trans-Atlantic air fares soaring. Other destinations - including Dubai, Egypt and Australia - heavily advertise to Europeans.

But there's also a public perception, widely reported in England and Germany, that the United States has gone overboard on security. Travelers say obtaining a visa has become a hassle and customs agents grill them like criminals when they enter the United States.

"We're making it harder instead of finding ways to encourage them," said Doreen Moore, a council member and owner of Travel Resort Services in Madeira Beach.

In comments to the magazine Der Spiegel, Chertoff said Europeans wishing to visit the country without a visa should register online and fill out a questionnaire 48 hours before their flight.

A public relations firm for Orlando's tourism agency reported that the comments appeared in 172 German language news stories since the weekend. The commentary from readers was: "We don't have to travel to the U.S. if they don't want us to spend money there," according to an e-mail from the firm.

Changes to visa-waiver rules are still up to Congress, said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. The intent is to give security agencies more time to look for potential terrorists, he said, not to discourage legitimate tourists.

The latest monthly survey of Pinellas visitors shows 243, 346 Europeans stayed overnight in the county so far this year, up 1.2 percent from the same period in 2006. Minich expects the numbers to be flat or slightly higher for the year.

To make up for that and the impact of higher gas prices on out-of-state tourists this summer, he shifted $120, 000 to newspaper ads in the Tampa Bay area and Orlando to attract more locals.

Fast Facts:

Chertoff's plan
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has suggested Europeans register online and fill out a questionnaire 48 hours before they're allowed to enter the United States under a visa-waiver program. The current program allows citizens from most Western European countries to enter the country without visas.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 22:54:09]