No big rise in U.S. tourism despite weak $

• Tweet

WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. dollar has been weakening against the euro and British pound for three years but that's yet to translate into a jump in U.S. tourism from Europe.

"We should be doing better than we are, based on the sale that the U.S. is having," Roger Dow, CEO of the Travel Industry Association of America, told USA Today.

To an extent, Europeans are taking advantage of bargain prices in the United States but that is not seen as being enough.

Figures show 43.8 million foreign visitors to the United States in 2004, up 8.4 percent from the previous year. The travel association hopes for better results this year and the next.

But there's also the worry about what might happen when the dollar strengthens because the United States has seen a decade-long slide in its share of the world's international travelers.

James Rasulo, president of Disney's parks and resorts, is calling for better marketing efforts.

"As a country, we simply have not been out there promoting the U.S. the way that countries like Australia, New Zealand and even Jamaica and Aruba are," he said.