US advised to attract the world

The United States is being urged to boost its image abroad in order to attract more overseas visitors.

US homeland secretary Michael Chertoff claims that many travellers are being deterred because of problems applying for visas.

In order to increase the number of international visitors and officials are calling for greater cooperation between the public and private sectors to kick start the tourism industry.

Speaking at the Global Travel and Tourism Summit in Washington, Mr Chertoff stressed that it was important to protect the safety of America's borders, but added that it was important to create a balance between strong security and welcoming foreign visitors.

He said: "We want to have a system that is secure and safe but welcoming to travel across the world… Americans lose when we put up walls and keep people out."

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