My friend Clare Sammells, an anthropologist (University of Chicago) who studies tourism in Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca region, sites recent figures that show US tourists spend about $112 million per year in Bolivia (I severely underestimated US tourism expenditures). She also is certain that the strict visa requirements for US visitors to Bolivia will have disproportional affect on tourism to the Andean regions of Bolivia.
That said, it’s starting to look like many “exceptions” will be made in enforcing the visa requirements. It’s looking more & more like a political stunt. And if it’s put in place, it’s starting to look like haphazard enforcement will transform this less into policy than into rationale for corruption among border enforcement personnel.