Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, applauded the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) announcement of its intent to allow citizens of the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea and Qatar to enroll in its highly successful trusted traveler program known as Global Entry.
"The trusted traveler program brings with it a wide array of security, economic and consumer benefits, and CBP is to be applauded for continuing to push for its expansion, " Dow said.
"Global Entry expedites screening for preapproved, low-risk international travelers, enabling CBP to focus its screening resources on potentially riskier unknown travelers. Expanding Global Entry to more travelers from key allied nations will strengthen United States aviation security while improving the efficiency of the U.S. entry process for all travelers, " Dow said.
"According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international travelers added nearly $90 billion to the U.S. economy in the first six months of 2013. International travel to the U.S. is America's No. 1 services export, and America posted a travel trade surplus of $4.3 billion in June," according to Dow.
"By welcoming more international travelers, CBP's expansion of the Global Entry program will help provide more jobs, more economic opportunity and more revenue to communities all across the U.S., " Dow said "We are excited by the prospect of expanding this program in the very near future to qualified travelers from the UK, Germany, South Korea and Qatar."
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