|
www.arabnews.comNew York City is up and running and ready for business — and tourism. This is the message that was conveyed last month at the annual “International Pow Wow,” held in New York City by at the Travel Industry Association of America.
TIA estimates that over $3 billion in travel contracts were negotiated during the 3-day show, between foreign tour operators and American destinations.
Over 5,200 agents representing the US tourism industry, and 1,300 tourism representatives of buyer companies from 70 countries, including Saudi Arabia, traveled to Pow Wow to lock in on the latest deals for US travel destinations.
Arab News interviewed several delegates who attended, all of whom said things were slowly getting better for Arabs interested in traveling in the US.
This year the Saudi delegation consisted of one man: Bosco Rodrigues, a general sales agent for Portfolio Travel, based in Jeddah.
Rodrigues said he felt it was important to attend, in order to “to keep people thinking about our region, while keeping in touch with the US market. So when the Saudis decide to return to the US, I’ll know what to offer them.”
Before 9/11, Rodrigues said at least 15 Saudi delegates attended TIA’s annual Pow Wow. The very low Saudi turnout at Pow Wow this year was due to visa hassles, said Rodrigues, and timing which coincided with the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
Rodrigues said he’s optimistic: “The very fact that Pow Wow was held in New York this year means a lot. New York is ready to receive tourists again, and they are sending a signal that the healing process has taken place.
“Before 9/11, the most popular travel destination for the Saudi traveler was the US, and Go USA,’ was one of the biggest markets. If this market rebounds, it will be very lucrative for the travel agents and suppliers,” said Rodrigues.
Rodrigues had an idea how to encourage Saudis to return to the US: “The US authorities have to facilitate the entry process for the legitimate international tourist coming in,” he said.
Rodrigues said he sailed through the immigration process in 10 minutes this year, compared to last year when he was detained for over four hours.
Acknowledging that US authorities who offer visas have to “walk a fine line,” Rodrigues said, “they also have the expertise and experience to decide between visa requests from genuine and non-genuine tourist visa requests. Saudi families should be given some preference, for example, over young men traveling solo.”
Getting a visa at the US consulate in Jeddah leaves much room for improvement, said Rodrigues, who said being required to sit in the hot sun for several hours before being allowed to enter the consulate is tough on anyone.
“The US must decide whether they want the Saudis to come back or not,” Rodrigues added. “We need to be told, one way or the other, so there’s no waste of anyone’s time.”
The tourist industry, such as Orlando, earns a lot of money when Arabs come to town, said Rodrigues, who’s worked in the tourism industry for many years. “They need hotels, cars, shopping excursions, attractions, restaurants — they spend a lot of money and members of the tourism industry here there tell me they are missed.”
Other travel industry specialists, working the Middle East, agreed that Arabs would like to vacation in the US, and said visas remain the biggest stumbling block.
“To get a visa after 9/11, it was very difficult for an Arab, even a Kuwaiti, to get a visa,” said Wissam Razzouk, manager of Delta Airlines in Kuwait and Qatar. “The US used to give 10 year visas, now you must wait over one month to get a one-year visa.”
Razzouk said Arab travelers are good clients. “When Arabs travel to the US on business or vacation, it’s for 3 to 4 weeks, and they usually spend a lot of money on luxury products.”
Mahmoud Al-Tali, vice president of sales and marketing, at Discovery Travel & Tourism in Kuwait, said things are improving: “This year marks the first year since 9/11 that it started to be easier to travel to the US. It is still difficult for young Arab men, but it’s easier now for anyone over 40, traveling with their family.”
Al-Tali said he applied for his visa online in Kuwait, and was given an interview at the US Embassy in Kuwait after 21 days. “I was fingerprinted and photographed, even though I have traveled to the US many times before.”
“During the interview process, I told them I was traveling to attend Pow Wow, and they said they would give me their response in two weeks. It took one month. But, before it would have been more difficult, the process is more efficient than before.”
Jimmy Eichelgruen, manager of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa, at Delta Airlines, spoke of the enormous difficulties encountered by his clients when leaving the US.
Eichelgruen, who is British, said he has faced the same ordeals that his Arab colleagues routinely encounter: “The last time I came through it took me four hours because of the heavy traffic and processing. Now it took 10 minutes.”
“They were polite and nice when I came through JFK,” added Razzouk. “Even when they told me I had to go through the second procedure, which was a more thorough questioning, they were very nice. They walked with me, and didn’t make me feel humiliated, or uncomfortable. Everyone was okay.”
But all three men recognized the need for further reconciliation between Arabs and Americans: “Americans need to know that Arabs don’t have a problem with Americans. They have a problem with the current American politics, but they still like Americans, and they like to vacation here,” said Al-Tali. “Before 9/11, the number one travel destination in the Arab world was the US.”
Eichelgruen agreed: “Arabs nave no antagonism to Americans. But they don’t want to be humiliated here. It will be a slow process, and it will happen by word of mouth. When they learn from their colleagues that they are not gong to be given a hard time when they come through US immigration, then they’ll start returning.” | 
