This is what I love about research: for every conclusive result, there is a corresponding study showing the exact opposite to be true.

The American Travel Industry Association is in the news this week with a study showing that international travel to the USA has dropped 17% since Sept. 11, 2001.  The study points to the nation's image abroad as the reason for the decline.  Among the British, those expressing a positive opinion of America dropped from 83% in 2000 to 56% last year.  Positive opinion among the French has declined from 62% to 39% and only 12% of Turks had anything good to say about the States compared to 52% in 2000.

Despite the War in Iraq, tensions with North Korea, etc, tourism officials blame the decline in visitation on the "shabby welcome" travelers receive at US border crossings.  The answer to the industry's woes, according to the industry, is to present a more "welcoming" image to the world.  Think someone needs to read one of Simon Anholt's books on nation branding and bone up on the inter-relationships between diplomacy, foreign policy, cultural exports and tourism.

The US Department of Commerce responded with its own research that shows the US on track to welcome a record number of visitors in 2007.  "The real story is a positive one" according to the department.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics, etc...

But here's where it gets even more murky: last week, Lonely Planet announced its latest list of the " friendliest nations on earth".  And who's in the top 10?  Not Canada -- it's the good old US-of-A.

You can't really compare these two studies without analyzing their methodologies and taking a hard look at the specific questions that were asked (a good practice any time you're looking at research, especially if you're going to use it to make decisions).  But on the surface, they appear to directly contradict one another.

One conclusion could be that while the nation of America is suffering an image crisis, the people of America remain well-liked.  Another conclusion could be that frequent international travelers (presumably the sample for Lonely Planet) have a very different view of America than do folks who stick close to home.

A more cynical observation would be that research studies can be skewed (consciously or unconsciously) to support the agenda of their sponsors.