Give Us Your Tired, Your Rich, Your Tourist Dollars

Once again the tour buses full of foreign leaf-peepers
are backed up for miles at the New Hampshire toll booths on Rte. I-95.
Once more the full fall festivities in Harvard Square are being captured
on hundreds of digital cameras in the hands of French, Argentine and
Japanese tourists. And most importantly to the Dowbrigade, the foreign
students who form the human fodder for our full-time gig, such as it
is, are once again arriving, wide eyed and culturally shocked, into our
waiting classrooms.

Of course, the reason for the resurrection is the fading
of the fear and memory of 9/11, and could be reversed or worse by another
catastrophic attack, but in the meantime it is music to our ears to listen
to the cacophonic multilingual babble at historic sites and tourist traps
along the Freedom trail.

The Boston
Globe reports, "The number of international visitors to the United
States is starting to increase again this year after plummeting following
the
2001 terrorist attacks and the introduction of stricter security.

During the first six months of this year, the number of visitors increased
by 16 percent and the number of visas for visits rose 14 percent, according
to US government statistics.

International spending in the United States also has increased for the
first time since 9/11 and is projected to rise 7 percent to $69.4 billion
this year."

from the Boston Globe