Pay to visit

The United States, cringing from the loss of over 600,000 foreign tourists a year, is about to take action to rebuild its tourism industry.
The Travel Promotions Act of 2009 will collect a $10 fee from all foreigners not requiring a visa to enter the U.S. (Canadians and Mexicans are exempt.)
The government is looking to collect almost $165 million annually with the tax, and matching that with private funds, will then turn on the world with the biggest advertising campaign to attract people to the United States for holidays and business meetings.
Over the four-year period of the legislation, U.S. legislators expect to grow the number of tourists arriving into that country by 1.6 million. That will generate an extra $4 billion into the economy and create 40,000 jobs. Travelers from beyond North America are shown to spend $4,500 for vacations in the United States.
U.S. legislators also expect the growth of tourism will reduce the U.S. deficit by some $400 million. The deficit will be reduced by foreigners.
The U.S. is creating a large travel Destination Marketing Fund. Lead by Jerry Fisher, tourist operators in Northwestern Ontario have tried to create a similar fund to market the Northwest. In Kenora, the motel and hotel businesses have created their own volunteer tax to create a pool of money to market Kenora as a tourist destination
“The Travel Promotions Act-2009” may also be a wake-up call to the Ontario and federal governments on the necessity of spending large sums of money to attract tourists to Canada.
And maybe Canada shouldn’t hesitate to charge those same tourists the U.S. government will be charging with a similar Promotions Tax.
There appears to be great reluctance by U.S. citizens to acquire a passport to travel.
With tourism already down, Canadian governments will have to show that the provinces of Canada are safe and interesting areas to travel in and persuade our nearest neighbours that they should have a passport.
Perhaps the best investment Canadian governments could make would be to pay a one-time passport fee for U.S. tourists visiting Canada. After all, an extra one million U.S. tourists could be attracted for a paltry $100 million. We spent far more than that just to keep automotive jobs alive.