The Travel Industry Association (TIA) has welcomed the official expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which is estimated to bring approximately one million new visitors to the United States annually.

Overseas visitors to the United States spend more and stay longer than other travellers. The United States welcomed two million fewer overseas visitors in 2007 than it did in 2000, despite an extraordinarily weak U.S. dollar and an additional 35 million long-haul travellers worldwide.

“Adding friends and allies to the Visa Waiver Program strengthens U.S. security, boosts America's vital public diplomacy efforts and stimulates U.S. economic growth,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association.

“TIA worked closely with the U.S. government to enact reforms that allow for VWP expansion with enhanced security measures, and we are pleased to see them take effect.”

The VWP allows citizens from participating countries to travel to the United States for business or pleasure for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.

Starting today, travellers from seven new countries can travel to the United States without first obtaining a tourist visa. The countries are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta and the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

“While today's expansion will benefit the economy, we still have a long way to go to regain the millions of travellers we have lost since 9/11,” said Dow.

“As the dollar gains strength and we experience a global financial downturn, the United States needs a clear strategy for welcoming more visitors in a highly competitive environment.”

Additional expansion of the VWP to qualified countries could come to a halt in 2009 if the Department of Homeland Security does not deploy a biometric system for confirming the exit of foreign visitors departing the United States.

TIA strongly supports the exit requirement and is working with the entire travel community to devise a secure and efficient solution.

Travellers under the new VWP countries must register before travelling through the new Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), as part of new security procedures established for the expansion.

The ESTA program is a relatively simple and effective way to strengthen U.S. security, and that of international travellers, while at the same time helping to preserve the VWP program.

The travel community has called on the Department of Homeland Security to implement ESTA in a way that will not create unnecessary barriers to travel, such as informing foreign visitors about ESTA requirements through a large-scale education effort and increasing convenience by providing alternate means for travel authorization that are not Internet-based and are part of a typical travel-booking process.

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