The War on Travel

by Chris Lorway

Like many management consultants, I spend a great deal of time traveling. In fact, one of the reasons I chose this line of work was that it gave me the opportunity to visit places I might not normally think of visiting. Unfortunately, the novelty is beginning to wear off, and it’s not because I’ve lost my love for traveling. It’s because it is becoming more and more difficult and frustrating to do so.

Things changed after September 11 – and rightfully so. For the most part, travelers understood and appreciated the need for heightened security. We arrived at the airport way too early and gladly took off our shoes and surrendered ourselves to seemingly excessive pat-downs. We even learned to eat rubber meat with plastic utensils.

Then other things began to change that were difficult to relate to national security. Domestic frequent flyers lost lounge privileges, upgrades and standby privileges now came at a cost, and frequent flyer miles became impossible to redeem. Customer service calls routed you through endless touch tone commands that often resulted in a click and a dial tone. If you were lucky, you would end up speaking to a nice woman in India whose decision making ability was limited to the FAQ’s on a script in front of her.

International travel was even more fun. The allowable size of carry-on luggage began to differ from country to country. Cancelled flights were rebooked on discount carriers, for which you could have purchased tickets online the week before for half the price. For non-US citizens, each US Customs and Immigration employee had a different idea of what paperwork was required to get back into the country.

So, what does this rant have to do with the cultural sector? The answer is, a lot. The recent changes could ultimately have a major impact on both cultural tourism and international cultural exchange.

Spurred on by the “Bilbao effect,” cities worldwide are banking on the idea that iconic buildings and festivals will increase the number of annual tourist visits, but the hassle of traveling may become one of the major barriers to the “if you build it they will come” theory. These days, weekend excursions are often marred by delayed flights and lost baggage.  In addition, new carry-on policies that restrict liquids, gels and pastes (and therefore most toiletries) force people to check baggage which adds both time and hassle to short-haul travel.¹²

In North America, things are about to get even more interesting. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which took effect on January 23, 2007, requires “all travelers to and from the Americas, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda, Central and South America to carry a passport to enter or re-enter the United States.” Border cities in Canada and Mexico that have long benefited from a constant flow of American tourists and day-trippers are bracing themselves for a steep decline in visitors.¹³ 

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Canadian Tourism Commission, the WHTI will result in 7.7 million less US visits to Canada between 2005 and 2008, representing a loss of $1.8 billion in Canadian tourism revenue. Over the same period, Canadian outbound visits to the US are projected to drop by 3.5 million, representing a loss of $785 million in US tourism revenue. The impact this new initiative will have on total attendance to Detroit cultural institutions like the Henry Ford Museum and Detriot Institute of Art (both of which get a fair share of Southern Ontario day-trippers) and summer theater mainstays like the Stratford and the Shaw Festivals is likely to be significant.

Cultural tourists aren’t the only ones affected by travel complications. More and more barriers are popping up for artists traveling to and from the US. This past August, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s had to cancel a high profile tour to Europe where it was scheduled to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms due to heightened travel restrictions around carry-on baggage and the reluctance of its musicians to check their instruments. Over the last decade, the length of time required to secure an artist visa to work in the US has increased significantly, in some cases taking up to six months.¹⁴  In order to circumvent this process, many cultural organizations end up paying “premium processing fees,” which adds significant cost.¹⁵  In some cases, prominent international artists are denied entry all together.¹⁶ 

How will cultural institutions respond to this new environment? While it would be sad to watch the presentation and experience of international artists fall off at a time when cross-cultural dialogue is critical, there is a real question as to whether organizations have the time or the money to continue doing so. In a recent conversation, an expert on the sector suggested that cultural tourism as we know it has peaked and that we are moving towards a more localized cultural sector which will focus on regional artists and audiences as opposed to national and international ones. While this view may be overly dramatic, it is not inconceivable. And if this is the case, it is a rocky road ahead for the cultural sector.

Chris Lorway | clorway@aeaconsulting.com

 12 A recent NBC news report stated that “since the TSA announced strict carry-on rules in August, checked luggage at all airlines has surged 20 percent. And that’s led to more reports of delayed, damaged or pilfered luggage — nearly 383,000 complaints in September alone — up 90 percent in one year”. During a recent business trip to New Orleans, I spent more time in my hotel room on the phone with Delta customer service agents trying to locate my luggage than I did seeing (and spending money in) the city.

13 According to the State Department, only about 27% of Americans hold valid passports.

14 In a recent policy brief, Americans for the Arts requested that Congress enact legislation that would reduce visa processing time to a maximum of 45 days.

15 The current standard filing fee for O and P Visas is $190. The premium processing fee is an additional $1000.

16 The most famous example of this occurred in 2004, when 77 year old musician Ibrahim Ferrer and four other Cuban musicians were denied visas to attend the Grammy Awards, where they had been nominated for best tropical latin album. No reasons were given by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) other than that the US had the right to deny access to individuals who were deemed “detrimental to the interest of the United States.”