Word: visa
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...less enthusiastic about changing the rules. In a year when the economy was slumping and consumer spending was way down, overdraft fees had become more profitable than traditional banking for half of America’s banks. After losing more than $300 million in the third quarter last year, Visa made a big push for its Visa check cards—basically just glorified debit cards—and recently announced netting more than $500 million this quarter...
...cities like Guangzhou to do business. Ethnic strife in China has made headlines in recent months after 200 Han and Uighur Chinese were killed in July, in the worst ethnic violence in decades. That same month, a Nigerian man was critically injured trying to escape one of many visa checks in Guangzhou's sizable African neighborhood. Also this year, a half-African-American, half-Chinese contestant on a Chinese reality-TV show and a half-South African, half-Chinese athlete on China's national volleyball team became the subjects of a flurry of racist comments in China's blogosphere...
Helping keep travelers at bay are tighter visa restrictions, tougher entry procedures at immigration desks and a general increase in anti-American sentiment in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We took foreign travelers for granted and erroneously assumed they would just keep on coming," says Harteveldt...
...year. Once enacted, it will create two new entities - the Office of Travel Promotion and the Corporation for Travel Promotion - to help foreign visitors actually get into the country. The offices will serve as resources for both individual travelers and the travel industry, explaining visa regulations and entry requirements, offering destination data and sponsoring marketing campaigns. Most importantly, by promoting the entire nation - rather than a specific airline or destination - TPA supporters say the bill could entice up to 1.6 million additional tourists to visit America each year. That translates to an estimated $4 billion in economic benefits, potentially resulting...
...would have a budget of up to $200 million, funded by contributions from the private sector (hotels and airlines, for instance) and a new $10 fee that would be paid by any entering foreign visitor who does not require an entry visa. The latter element has proven controversial - especially to the mostly European travelers who would have to contend with those extra costs. Ambassador John Bruton, head of the European Commission delegation to the United States, called the potential levy "discriminatory" in a September statement, and warned that it could become "a step backward in our joint endeavor toward transatlantic...