The U.S. Travel Association expressed its concern with the Department of Homeland Security’s ESTA program and its mandatory compliance policy in a recent press release. ESTA, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, is a system that determines eligibility to travel to the United States for those individuals from Visa Waiver Program countries. (For more information on ESTA, please visit ESTA FAQ). Roger Dow, president and CEO of the association, expressed particular concern with the government’s efforts to register travelers, saying “it is common sense to couple mandatory compliance with a substantial effort to register all travelers.” In particular, Dow noted, beginning March 20, “thousands of travelers who pose no security risk could be denied boarding on U.S.-bound flights by airlines.” 



In order to alleviate these problems, the U.S. Travel Association encourages the following actions:

• Congress should immediately make funds available to provide alternative enrollment mechanisms, including internet kiosks near ticket check-in at international airport terminals and at arrival areas of U.S. port of entries that enable travelers to comply with ESTA requirements;
• The Department of Commerce should immediately begin work with DHS to explore the reasons behind non-compliance and recommend a strategy and specific tactics for achieving full compliance;
• The Administration should launch a robust, multi-agency “100 Percent Compliance” communications campaign targeting foreign travel agents, foreign media and others interested in generating travel to the United States;
• Following the 60-day grace period, DHS should allow VWP travelers without an ESTA a one-time waiver to board U.S.-bound flights as long as the individual’s personal data is first checked against all necessary intelligence databases and cleared for travel, and they are allowed to complete the ESTA upon arrival within the secure immigration processing area; and
• DHS should measure compliance rates at the 60-day mark and evaluate whether to extend the grace period if compliance levels are not high enough to avoid significant disruption to travelers and the travel system.

According to U.S. Travel Association, the program could result in the “neglect [of] 67,000 travelers each month” and could produce “an average cost to the United States economy of $13.2 million and 132 jobs each day. […] Unintentionally making the United States a less desirable place to visit for business, study or leisure will hinder our economic recovery and our public diplomacy efforts around the world.”

The Association supports the Travel Promotion Act, which would alleviate some of the communication problems in reaching out to travelers that must register under the ESTA program.