Americans charge to enter
Travelling already costs a small fortune and its showing no sign of getting cheaper thanks to a new charge made by the USA to enter its borders. This is thanks to the US Government announcing that ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) applications will become chargeable from next month.
If you aren’t familiar with ESTA, you should be. The visa waiver program adopted by the USA many years ago made sure that countries where good relations existed could holiday in the USA by completing an i94 green form. The visa waiver program adopted by the USA many years ago made sure that countries where good relations existed could holiday in the USA by completing an i94 green form.
This process was always free, but recent announcements from the US government mean there will now be a £9 charge starting on the 9th September 2010. Whilst it may not be the US governments fault, when you add this cost to all of the other things we need to pay for including travel insurance, airport tax, fuel duty, transfers, air (ok, not air), airport hotels and so on, the cost of holidaying and travelling is really starting to become a serious financial problem.
The good news is, if you have a holiday booked in the next 2 years, you can complete ESTA right now, free of charge and avoid the extra cost. Its the same for you that are often found at Gatwick airport hotels (you know who you are!) waiting for the morning flight to Los Angeles or some other business destination, it’s a great idea to fill it out now and save yourself the hassle and the money for 2 years.
Although the US government will probably use the money to wipe their debts clear, they claim they are intending to put the money to use on tourist ideas, but with 4 million brits alone travelling to the USA, they’ll have no shortage of cash to play with.
