Skift Take

25 Moments that Mattered in 2015: To make our selection of 25 moments, we thought back to the stories that drove reader engagement and sparked discussion among both travel experts and the general public. Some stories were quick blips that represented bigger things while others were narratives that built slowly through out the year. Each one, though, spoke to where we are right now when it comes to the big business of global travel.

An abundance of terror attacks in 2015, both in the United States and abroad, has led the U.S. Congress to reconsider the country’s visa waiver program, despite the fact that no attack in the U.S. has been linked to it.

The program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without acquiring a visa, has come under fire from both Democrats and Republicans, who say that it could allow potential terrorists to enter the U.S. without proper screening.

While the program has been active since 1986, politicians are keen to prevent a potentially threatening citizen of Belgium, France, or another waiver country to gain easy entry to the U.S. Time will tell how strict the visa waiver program will become, whether normal travelers will be affected by the changes, or even if Customs and Border Control will be given the tools they need to do a more effective job of policing entries

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Tags: 25 moments 2015, politics, unrest, usa

Photo credit: The U.S. is looking closer at visas and border security following high-profile attacks around the world. Jon Rawlinson / Flickr.com

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