How Will We Treat
Foreign
Tourists?
By VOIT GILMORE
Director, U.S. Travel Service
With a little brushing up on our hospitality,
says this expert, we can give visitors from
abroad the welcome as well as the sights of a lifetime
When I became director of the
United States Travel Service 10
months and 80,000 travel miles ago,
people warned that trouble lay ahead.
"Foreign tourists won't come to the United
States," they predicted gloomily.
I was told about German visitors who had
received tickets for jaywalking and French tour
ists who had been questioned by police for trying
to exchange francs for dollars.
It was argued that our customs are too ex
asperating for foreign visitors. Frenchmen take
pains to see that each wine is served at the right
temperature; some Americans serve every vari
ety as cold as soda pop. A European desk clerk
speaks a half-dozen languages; some of ours
struggle even with English. Italians love to re
lax at the table after a long lunch; we eat and
run, sped on our way by a hovering waiter and
a management that expects a fast turnover.
But I have learned that this is only part of
the story. Despite such differences, the U.S.A.
is the place millions of people around the world
want most to see. No matter how we may differ
from them, they want to taste our' excitement
and see what makes us tick.
Congress last year took a giant step toward
helping the U.S.A. get a larger share of the
booming international travel business by creat
ing the U.S. Travel Service and authorizing it
to open travel-promotion offices abroad.
The move is paying off. This year an unprece
dented number of foreign tourists are coming to
the United States. For instance, 2,000 of them
will be here to attend the International Con
ference of National Machine Accountants; 4,000
for the International College of Surgeons meet
ing; and 3,000 for a food conference.
ALTHOUGH we Americans may need to polish
.up our hospitality here and there, we need
not apologize for our "tourist plant." It is first
rate. Overseas visitors already have shown their
approval of it, by their uninhibited rush for
rooms, with free soap and television, which
cost no more than ancient Old World accom
modations; by driving down superhighways in
the world's finest cars using gasoline that costs
only half what it does in Europe; by swimming in
pools which Old World hotels and motels have yet
to exploit widely; by camping in national and
state parks that have unsurpassed roominess and
scenic wonders; by shopping in supermarkets
which anti-American propagandists still say are
"nonexistent."
Just as important as these wonders are the
186 million John and Jane Does of the United
States. Many are doing wonderful things:
A New York cabbie picked up a Dutch couple
who asked to be taken to Radio City and the
United Nations. "You folks sit back and relax,"
he said as he turned off his meter. "I want to
show you a city I'm proud of." He drove them
around New York all day without charge!
A Midwest family out for a ride encountered
four French college boys. They took them home
and entertained them for a week.
A Los Angeles bachelor met three visiting
engineers. When he left for his vacation a few
days later, he gave them his apartment to use.
A Pennsylvania housewife asked a dozen
newspapers in Germany to publish her address
so any hausfrau touring the Keystone State
would be sure to drop in for coffee.
And 48 families in Miami invited a wander
ing band of 48 high-school students from South
America to move in with them for two weeks.
These warmhearted gestures are in the best
U.S. tradition. But there is much more.
Our government has discarded the lengthy,
embarrassing visa questionnaire which infuri
ated so many visitors. It has been replaced by a
simple form that is smaller than a postal card.
At major ports of entry, the U.S. Immigration
Service has stationed receptionists who can greet
visitors in from two to five languages.
Bankers are providing airport money-changing
facilities at hours when transoceanic planes
arrive. Merchants are learning to quote prices
in pounds, francs, and lire. And hotel managers
are full of plans to hire staff interpreters, equip
their front desks with multilingual cards stud
ded with phrases that will help visitors, and
provide booklets explaining such Yankee oddi
ties as self-service markets, eating in automats,
and drinking tap water (it's safe here!).
Foreign tourism can be very profitable to a
community. The Department of Commerce
estimates that the average foreign visitor spends
$500 during his American vacation. By attract
ing a mere two dozen tourists a day, a city bene
fits as much as it would by bringing in a new
industry with an annual payroll of $100,000.
Increasing tourism can also improve our for
- eign relations by correcting the twisted images
in the minds of many people abroad.
After a Florida holiday, a Latin American
visitor declared, "I'm amazed that the United
States isn't gangster-ridden. And to see whites
and Negroes living peacefully in the same town
was a big surprise. I thought you were always
fighting each other."
As he took his reluctant departure, a young
Italian architect said, "America is an artist's
heaven, vibrantly alive and responsive. It's
ahead of us in the arts."
Yes, the tourists are coming. Our price is
right. Our attractions are second to none. And
if I know Americans, our guests will be met
everywhere by a welcoming hand. Friendly
Americans will win America friends!
COVER:
Roger Maris, photographed by Ozzie, Sweet,
was the idol of baseball fans a year ago
a sure winner over Mickey Mantle in any
popularity poll. That's not so today. For
"The Story Dehind the Boos," see page 18.
WeeJcljr
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