Washington ? A travel industry trade group is campaigning against new federal rules aimed at preventing foreign terrorists from entering the country, warning that the measures would hurt tourism and do little to enhance security.

The Travel Industry Association of America this week urged airline, hotel and cruise line representatives to write letters to members of Congress and Bush administration officials and described several directives from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security as “ill-advised.”

The rules, which go into effect during the next six months, will require machine-readable passports for tourists entering the country without a visa; fingerprinting of every international traveler; and interviews with applicants for a nonimmigrant U.S. visa.

The group said the government has not appropriated enough funding, personnel or equipment to carry out the rules in an efficient manner.

Stuart Patt, a spokesman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, a division of the State Department, disagreed.

“This is something we’ve been studying very carefully for a long time,” Patt said.

“We wouldn’t have put in the new rules if we thought that we could not implement them.”