A group representing the United States travel and tourism industry has warned that a proposal to require millions of foreign visitors to provide social media handles used over the past five years could have a chilling effect on visits to the US. The US Travel Association issued its comments in a statement on Monday on the proposed change, which was announced in a US government notice last week and expected to take effect on February 8. It would require travellers from countries in the visa waiver programme to submit the social media data.