Press Releases
Editorial Viewpoint Published in ModernAgent
By Alexander W. Harris, CTC
Published on May 8, 2006
Secure Borders, Open Doors
The recent Editor's Forum "A Summit Of Travel Leaders" in the April 17 issue of Travel Pulse Daily focused on the gathering sponsored by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in Washington, D.C., last month. My hat is off to the organizers for taking the initiative in creating this important event.
I share the hope and skepticism expressed in that column about the future of the renewed efforts by our government to put tourism high on its agenda. For several years in the 1980s, as past chairman of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and subsequently as chairman of its Government Affairs Committee, I vigorously campaigned within the Travel and Tourism Government Affairs Council for a stated U.S. policy on bilateral tourism reflecting its importance in building international friendships and understanding, serving as an antidote to ignorance and prejudice, and providing a positive economic impact.
I commend Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for their recently announced "Secure Borders, Open Doors" policy. It elevates to the highest levels of government our USTOA "Open Borders Travel and Tourism" policy adopted on Feb. 7, 1990, after hearings before the House Committee on Ways and Means of the 101st Congress. U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Rockwell Schnabel announced the policy at the Eighth Annual Congressional Reception and Tourism Industry Unity Dinner in Washington, D.C.
The Travel and Tourism Government Affairs Council supports the goal of "open borders" for travel and tourism among all nations. Peace, prosperity, and democracy are advanced by policies that enable people to exercise their fundamental right to travel. For the United States, an "open borders" travel and tourism policy should encompass a realistic objectives that will maximize the ability and desire of citizens to travel freely and efficiently in other countries, and allow travel companies to operate effectively at home and abroad.
All governments should strive to facilitate and encourage two-way travel flows across international borders and the transnational operations of travel companies. The ability of a people to travel to another country should only be limited under the most extraordinary circumstances."
While world conditions have drastically changed from the 1990s, and security has become a dominant factor shaping international tourism and travel, it is nevertheless important to preserve the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, not as a privilege but a fundamental human right.
Tourism is a powerful force for broadening people's perception of the world and promoting the message of peace and understanding among peoples and countries, thus bringing the world together. In my soon-to-be-published book "Breaking Borders," I took the liberty to twice quote Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness -- all foes to real understanding. Likewise, tolerance, or broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Twain also said: "The best way to learn about one's country is to visit another."
Nobody said it better.
As Americans we must never give in to fear. We must never become isolated from the rest of the world. We must never relinquish our principles of democracy and the right to advocate those principles and promote them worldwide. The "Secure Borders, Open Doors" policy is to be commended for adhering to these principles.
|
