“The way that we, as a country, look at the visa process and at the inter- national visitor needs to be adjusted. We need to be thinking about this as a job-creation engine for the U.S.” —Patricia Rojas, U.S. Travel Association
Convention&Tourism Bureau (CCTB) all have full-time staff devoted to international sales. “About three years agowedecided we wanted to break into the international meetings market,” Houston’s Franz said. “This is wherethefutureis.” CCTB recently hosted a mission trip to China to help key
clients identify exhibitors and potential attendees, whileNYC& Company met with the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou to stress its desire to attract Chinese attendees. For its part, DestinationDC exhibits at international trade shows, organizes media and sales missions worldwide, and conducts research in the international association market, said Claire Etches, Destination DC’s inter- national convention sales manager. Destination DC also works to identify local leaders who are influential in their own professional organizations and can work with the CVB to attract major interna- tional events. With its Pacific Rim location, the largest
Chinesecommunity outsideof China, and the added boost of two daily nonstop flights from Beijing to LAX, Los Angeles is especially com- mitted to the international market.LAINC. has 10 people work- ing in international locations and another 20 stateside employees dedicated to international markets, according to Michael Krouse, CMP, CASE, CHME, senior vice president of sales and serv- ices. The CVB opened a Beijing office five years ago to serve the huge Chinese travel market, and staff there can offer meeting attendees help with the visa process. The efforts seem to be pay- ing off. In the first half of 2011, Los Angeles saw its number of Chinese visitors increase 17 percent over 2010. For planners interested in tapping into the Chinese market,
in terms of being a leader in the medical world,” Franz said, “and in terms of potential for knowledge and information-sharing.” GHCVB is also developing an ambassador program, which would identify key individualswho live in the Houston area and are on the boards of major medical associations. Franz said: “We’re really starting to tap into our local thought-leadership.”
CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE
A Call for Change But no matter how hard a city sells itself to the world at large, it’s all for naught if attendees can’t get into the country. Accord- ing to a December 2010 report by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), visa issues prevented 2.5 percent of potential international attendees from partic- ipating in trade shows and exhibitions in the United States. The main complaints from for- eign nationals trying to obtain a U.S. visa were long wait times and cursory interviews that didn’t consider the applicants’ proof of valid business travel. Without visa barriers, the report concludes, total business sales at exhi-
bitions would increase by $2.6 billion, while business sales to U.S. companies would increase by $2.4 billion. In a May 2011 report, U.S. Travel proposed a detailed plan
to reform the visa-application process and grow the U.S. share of the global travel market. U.S. Travel’s recommendations include: Increase staffing in embassies and consulates. Make it more efficient for travelers to renew visas by devel-
oping fast-track or easy-renewal processes wherever possible. Offer Saturday and extended interview windows to reduce
LAINC. offers internationalmarketing and public-relations assis- tance—and, Krouse said, can help boost international atten- dance by 10 to 15 percent. “We have an established presence in those markets,” he said, “and we know how the system works.”
Maintaining a global perspective with a local focus is the key,
according to Franz, which is why GHCVB plays up its home- growntalent as a draw for international meetings. Franz recently returned from the 2011 ICCA Congress in Leipzig, Germany; travelingwith himwere several leaders from the Houston-based Texas Medical Center. “They spoke to what Houston has to offer
62 pcma convene January 2012
wait times to 10 days. Expand theVWP program.
“We’re not asking for security to be lowered or changed,”
Rojas said. “What we’re saying is, ‘Vet this individual, but we don’t think making someone wait 100 days is going to make your vetting any more accurate.’” In September 2011, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory
Board—a group of travel and tourism industry leaders assem- bled by the Secretary of Commerce—presented its own set of recommendations, which included establishing amaximumwait