08/04/2006

WORLD TRAVEL AND TOURISM COUNCIL (WTTC) EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT NEW REQUIREMENT FOR VISA WAIVER PROGRAM TRAVELERS TO ENROLL IN THE US-VISIT PROGRAM AND ENCOURAGES MORE PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Millions Of Travelers From 27 Countries Now Required To Provide Fingerprint Scans And Photographs To Enter The U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- April 8, 2004 -- Following an announcement made by the Department of Homeland Security last week, millions of travelers will be subjected to providing fingerprints and photographs to enter the U.S. -- a change that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) -- global partner of the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR) -- believes could have a negative impact on travel to the U.S.

The change requires citizens from 27 Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries -- including some of the country's strongest allies such as Britain, Japan and Australia -- to enroll in the US--VISIT program. This program was launched in January, but did not include VWP countries who were previously allowed to enter the U.S. without a visa if they were staying for less than 90 days.

As of September 30, 2004, that will change. In October, citizens from VWP countries will also be required to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering the U.S.

With the change now requiring (VWP) travelers to participate, there is concern that citizens from VWP countries, which represent the majority of inbound arrivals to the U.S., will simply look to travel elsewhere.

"The stakes are high," says Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President of the World Travel and Tourism Council. "The WTTC 2004 Tourism Satellite Account Research Report estimates that the broad travel and tourism industry in the United States alone is expected to generate over 10% of the Gross Domestic Product and over 16 million jobs. Somehow, the Department of Homeland Security has to draw upon the marketing experience and expertise of the travel and tourism industry's private sector to paint a better picture on why photos and fingerprints at the gateways to America is a good thing rather than a barrier."

Vince Wolfington, Chairman of WTTC and Chairman of Carey International, suggests that the private sector must take the lead in working with the Department of Homeland Security to find a way to support their mission of protecting our borders from those who wish to do us harm while not providing disincentives to travelers to visit our country.
"Given that WTTC's mission is to bring the public and private sectors together to work towards common goals of revitalizing travel and tourism worldwide, we would like to encourage the Department of Homeland Security -- particularly through its Private Sector Office -- to work with the private sector leadership to find ways to protect our borders without making travel to the U.S. prohibitive to the international community who wants to come and visit or do business in our country," adds Wolfington.

Nearly two thirds of all overseas business and leisure travelers, or nearly 13.5 million visitors enter the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. And, almost 12% of the travel and tourism business emanates from foreign visitors. Simply put, international visitors stay longer and spend more. In the last three years, international arrivals have declined 32 percent. The decline in international arrivals has resulted in a loss of $12 billion. This drop off negatively affects not just travel and tourism companies and the one out of every seven people in the private-sector workforce who earn a living in the industry, but our national and local economies as well.

WORLD TRAVEL AND TOURISM COUNCIL'S FOURTH GLOBAL SUMMIT BRINGS TOGETHER TRAVEL AND TOURISM LEADERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND HUNDREDS OF JOURNALISTS FOR A GROUNDREAKING FORMAT TO DISCUSS CHALLENGES FACING THE INDUSTRY AROUND THE WORLD

LONDON, ENGLAND, -- April 8, 2004 - As the travel and tourism industry worldwide continues to struggle for a full recovery from international events, the Fourth Global Travel & Tourism Summit will take on a groundbreaking format in order to promote genuine, lively discussion, to encourage the leaders of the industry to express their opinions candidly and to drive change.

The Summit will be attended by Chairmen and CEOs of hundreds of top travel and tourism companies, 150 of the world's leading travel and business journalists and numerous government officials. They will gather at the Sheraton Doha in Qatar from May 1-3. The networking will be unparalleled and participants will have a genuine opportunity to influence the future direction of travel and tourism.
Unlike the majority of commercial and political conferences that are effectively a procession of speeches, with a very small amount of time built in for questions, the Summit will revolve around a series of highly interactive discussions, moderated by internationally recognized journalists and broadcast personalities, who will expect and request contributions from the audience.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has taken this approach for three principal reasons. First, the Summit attracts very high-level delegates who are all prominent and influential business people, with voices of equal authority. Second, this style of meeting will be much more engaging and third, with the declared objective of driving change, it will maximize the opportunity for input from all parts of the industry.
The agenda has been set to assist the meeting to tackle issues progressively so that the most fundamental ones are addressed first and, as far as possible, either consensus or a majority view is gained on them before moving on.
Reflecting the emphasis on dialogue, the Summit will be staged in the round, with "hot seats" on a central stage for experts and business leaders who will be lead contributors. In advance of the event, delegates will be polled for their views and will be informed that they will be expected to make a contribution as well as listen to others.
The major questions that will be debated include:

• What are the latest global trends and what impact will they have?
• What are the best strategies for the changing environment?
• What are the main challenges faced by governments and how will they be met?
• What can be done on an industry level to improve customer experiences?
• In the face of bad news, how do we prevent unnecessary panic?

Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC President said: "Our intention is to inject dynamism and spontaneity in to all the sessions - yes. However, more than that we want the outcome of the 4th Global Travel & Tourism Summit to be an expression of what the industry considers to be the main challenges it faces and a consensus view on the changes that will be required to nurture the green shoots of the recovery in 2004."

To review the full details of the Summit Program and to see who will be leading the responses to which questions, please visit. www.wttc.org.

About The World Travel & Tourism Council
The WTTC is the forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry. With Chief Executives of some one hundred of the world's leading Travel & Tourism companies as its members, WTTC has a unique mandate and overview on all matters related to Travel & Tourism.

WTTC works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world's largest industries, employing c. 200 million people and generating over 10% of world GDP.