Geoff Freeman is the president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, which advocates for the USA’s travel and hospitality industry. He has been lobbying for travel improvements ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

Freeman grew up playing youth soccer in the Milwaukee area — for Mequon United and FMI — and was recruited to play goalkeeper at UC Berkeley, which he attended in 1993-97.

He spoke to us after attending President Donald Trump’s White House World Cup task force meeting on Tuesday that included Vice President JD Vance and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Key issues of concern, Freeman says, are the USA’s visa system, customs checkpoints and headlines around the world creating fear of detainment and searches. He also addressed concerns about the state of the USA’s air traffic control system.

SOCCER AMERICA: The U.S. Travel Association is kind of a Chamber of Commerce for the travel industry?

GEOFF FREEMAN: We represent every aspect of the travel industry:  airlines, airports, theme parks, cruise lines, hotels. One thing they all agree on is that we want more people to travel, and we want to grow the pie.

What we do primarily — I’m here in our office on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. — is focus on where the policy obstacles to travel are. U.S. Travel years ago drove the creation of the TSA PreCheck program …

SA: I love TSA PreCheck …

GEOFF FREEMAN: Thank you. That one always goes over well. … We created Brand USA, which is the organization that markets the United States around the world. We’re always looking for ways to improve travel. To make it easier for people to get into the country, make it smoother.

I just left Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s press conference on building a new air traffic control system. That’s the type of stuff that we’re pushing. … All eyes are now on the air traffic control system, the ways that it is stealing travelers’ confidence, the importance of investing in this system and doing things in a different way. So we’re more and more optimistic at this moment than we have been at any point in recent history that there is the urgency to build a new air traffic control system. …

If we can make the travel process more seamless, we’ll have more people traveling and the industry will be a hell of a lot better off.

SA: Can you go through the main travel concerns you’d like to see ironed out  ahead of the 2026 World Cup?

GEOFF FREEMAN: Our biggest concerns around the World Cup probably fall into three baskets. No. 1 and No. 2 of these are long-standing concerns. 

One is the state of our visa system. Visas in general are the No. 1 concern for travelers who are coming from countries where visas are required.

From the UK,  Germany and a number of countries around the world, they don’t need visas to come. But for those that do need a visa, the visa is a bigger issue than the cost of travel. That’s a big concern for us. 

It’s a big concern that the State Department has struggled to process these visas in an efficient manner. We should be processing the interview for a visa in 30 days or less. 

I’m not saying you should be giving everybody a yes or everybody a no, or what percentage get a yes. We accept that some people are going to get denied. Just give them an answer. Give them an interview and give them an answer. For years, we have struggled to process these travelers efficiently. 

Today in Colombia, the wait time to get an interview for a visa is over 500 days. Well, that means for those Colombians who are thinking, “I want to take my son or my daughter to the World Cup next year,”  your window is already closed.

That is an extremely unfortunate situation. It’s a self-inflicted wound on our part that thousands and thousands of Colombians would like to come here, have a great experience, spend money, go home and tell their family, “Do the same thing!” — and they’re not gonna be able to do that. 

SA: The No. 2 concern is …

GEOFF FREEMAN: When you look at what’s going to happen during the World Cup and all these visitors: How well are we prepared in the customs checkpoints? 

We’ve already seen issues over the years of 2-hour-plus wait times to get through customs — a very rough way to welcome people to America. 

What are we doing to streamline that process? We’ve put forward some concrete proposals, including proposals that would essentially take Americans out of line. Give every American a Global Entry-like experience. We have the technology to do that today.

If we did that, then we could focus those limited resources we have on all of our international guests. That’d be a great way to streamline that process. 

SA: The No. 3 concern …

GEOFF FREEMAN: This is a more recent issue, and we’re working with the White House on this: That increasingly the headlines around the world are spreading fear as to if you come to the United States, you might be detained, your device might be searched, other things might happen.