America the Unfriendly

Discover America Partnership, a travel industry PR organization (we’ve blogged about before), just announced the results of a global survey ranking the U.S. as the least friendly place to travel to. They polled 2,011 travelers in 16 countries that said that the U.S. is ranked “worst” in the world in terms of obtaining visas and general entry procedures.

More than half said US officials were rude and two-thirds feared being detained for simple mistakes in paperwork or saying the wrong thing to officials upon arriving.

They noted also that the number of visitors (other than from Canada and Mexico) has declined by 17% since 2000. Business travel declined by 10%. On a lighter note, most thought that once they got past Homeland Security, their travel experience was “great.”