The US is a sufficiently large enough domestic population that it self-generates and self-fulfills most of its tourism market. I was surprised myself when I loo

The US is a sufficiently large enough domestic population that it self-generates and self-fulfills most of its tourism market. I was surprised myself when I looked up how lopsided it is. Similar can probably be said of China, EU, and perhaps Africa in a couple decades. Overseas arrivals to the US is tracked in [1]. Domestic tourism represented 96.7% of the annual market in 2013. [2] In the context of this thread's discussion of overseas visitors avoiding the US and its knock-on effects upon the US tourism industry, if overseas visitors 100% disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn't be a rounding error, but according to these statistics it's definitely not the political-economic club it's made out to be in these discussions. For better or worse, it is up to US citizens to vote in any changes in border control service delivery standards. For what it's worth, many of the procedures I've heard people complain about have some basis in reasoning lurking in the background. International transits (where you land in a US airport but go onwards to a different country, never once stepping foot onto non-airport soil) requiring a security re-screening is explained in some places [3]. The cost to Americans getting People's Republic of China (PRC) visas traces back to diplomatic tit-for-tat, as PRC citizens visiting the US pay similar fees. Many security industry observers admire Israel's airport security, yet discussions like this thread neglect to mention Israeli border control also demands social network and email credentials, and the US is singled out for adopting an Israeli practice, when just scant few years ago the US agencies were excoriated for being too unenlightened to adopt Israeli practices [4]. Where I see room for improvement is service delivery, and education of citizens might help, while increased focus upon anchoring the mobility of capital to mobility of labor will definitely help. I've had my share of visa issues traveling into Canada as a US citizen, but the staff were unfailingly polite while still being hard-nosed, while I hear of other US citizens getting hassled at the Canadian border. I've had minor snafus in border crossings into Mexico and the PRC as well, and I was treated politely there, too. My attitude in all of these interactions was, "Ah, sorry I made your day harder just now, what can I learn about what I missed with regards to the policy so I don't make the same mistake again, what is the rough, overall process and timeline to fix it this time around, and what is the detailed next action item (who/where/what/how)?" This has never failed to elicit the officer politely, sometimes gladly, assisting me, so maybe this helps others. YMMV, of course. [1] http://travel.trade.gov/research/monthly/arrivals/index.asp http://travel.trade.gov/research/monthly/arrivals/index.asp [2] http://www.eturbonews.com/53328/research-domestic-tourism-significantly-dominates-us-tourism-mar http://www.eturbonews.com/53328/research-domestic-tourism-si... [3] https://www.quora.com/Airports-Why-do-you-have-to-go-through-security-again-when-you-have-a-connecting-flight https://www.quora.com/Airports-Why-do-you-have-to-go-through... [4] https://www.quora.com/Is-it-justifiable-for-the-Ben-Gurion-airport-security-to-ask-you-for-your-e-mail-and-Facebook-credentials https://www.quora.com/Is-it-justifiable-for-the-Ben-Gurion-a...