Visitor visa issues are impeding attendance at U.S. trade shows, acting as a barrier to foreign trade as U.S. companies fail to meet with current or potential business prospects, according to a nationwide survey released by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR).
According to the survey, visa issues prevented 116,000 participants from attending U.S. exhibitions. This includes 78,000 international attendees and 37,000 international exhibitors who were hindered from attending.
The survey also concluded that with no visa barriers in place, the U.S. economy would realize a $2.4 billion increase in business sales resulting from business-to-business trade, registration fees, exhibitor space spending and visitor spending.
