Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was in Orlando Friday to predict that more foreign tourists will finally come to the U.S. this year than came before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, reports the Associated Press. Those tourists are worth well over $100 billion a year in earnings and a good bit of it gets left in Las Vegas.

The problem has been, and there may be no perfect answer for this, that the new security checks are frustrating foreign tourists, especially those coming for short vacations. It’s just not worth it and often things simply cannot be arranged in the short time people choose to make those short trips. That’s especially true for tourists from the big growth areas like China and India.

The latest LVCVA figures for foreign tourism reported in the Review-Journal indicate that Las Vegas is still down 500,000 visitors from pre-attack levels. That means less than 2 million visitors, which is really low considering how much business and convention tourism there is, even before we begin to count the Mexicans and Canadians who can think of Las Vegas as a place for a quick getaway.

And just try googling "cranky customs official" and you’ll get blog after blog complaining about U.S. Customs officials. As one traveler tells the RJ, it’s not that American customs officers are any worse but people are disposed to think the worst of them. Still, it doesn’t help the image that the tourist entry lines at most airports are far fewer and miles longer than those for locals returning home.

And there’s one more piece of good news for foreign tourism. Washington and the European Union have finally struck a deal that will open up the market for transatlantic travel, reports the New York Times. The industry is predicting both more and cheaper flights but industry experts are skeptical about cheaper fares. Still more capacity should eventually translate to more tourists.