USAWelcome.com aims info portal at international tourists

USAWelcome.com will provide an Internet community for America's tourists, international students, diplomats, expatriate business travelers and immigrants who spend more than $70 billion annually during their visits. The site also will contain original information in a browser's native language to help them enjoy their visit or acclimate to the U.S.

The site provides information on: immigration; English-language training services; popular tourist destinations; hotels and airports; camping, hiking, and biking tours; relocation services; native-language newspapers; native- language health services practitioners; personal security tips; translation and interpretation services; embassy and consulate directories; employment opportunities; and traveler's and international student health insurance.

The company also plans to lease touchscreen kiosks with adapted site content to hotels, tourist information centers and major international airports.

Though most of the site is currently available in English only, USAWelcome.com is in the process of translating materials to provide original content to browsers in Spanish, French, German and Japanese. Additional languages will be available in early 2001.