The World Public Has Blurry Image of the United States

Business leaders joined public officials at a Capitol Hill rally to call national attention to the growing crisis of America’s declining image abroad.

Recognizing the impact on economic and national security, these leaders called for a nationwide effort to strengthen America’s public diplomacy efforts by leveraging the potential of travel and tourism to create “people-to-people” diplomacy.

The newly launched Discover America Partnership issued a national challenge to attract 10 million more international travelers to the U.S. annually.

The Discover America Partnership is supported by some of the country’s foremost business leaders, including August Busch III (Chairman, Anheuser-Busch), J.W. Marriott (Chairman, Marriott International), Jay Rasulo (Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts), Jonathan Tisch (Chairman, Loews Hotels) and Andrew Taylor (Chairman, Enterprise Rent-A-Car).

The Partnership will run a non-stop advocacy campaign designed to educate policymakers on the power of travel and the American people, highlight the unnecessary obstacles to welcoming more visitors and, through exhaustive research, determine how the U.S. can better compete for international visitors.

A May 2006 study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project captured the problem: the United States suffers from a rapidly declining image abroad. In most nations, favorable opinion of the U.S. is well below 50 percent.

The decline in America’s image abroad has serious economic and national security implications. For example, the Pew study captured a direct relationship between favorable opinion of America and support of the nation’s anti-terrorism efforts.

The decline in America’s image is also a pressing business issue. America’s share of the growing worldwide travel market dropped by 36 percent between 1992 and 2005, costing the nation $43 billion in lost revenue in 2005 alone.

The nation’s international tourism balance of trade declined more than 70 percent over the past 10 years –from $26.3 billion in 1996 to $7.4 billion in 2005.