It does not at this point, to my knowledge. To my knowledge, the ESTA is similar to what you're looking to have here in Canada. Australia has the same program.
As far as the point about tourism and whether it's a barrier, I don't think it would be a barrier. I don't really think you can equate an online form with getting a whole passport. Getting a whole passport is somewhat cumbersome. The online form doesn't appear to be cumbersome. I don't really think you can equate it to a barrier.