“The Travel Promotion Act will not only boost travel and create jobs in the tourism industry, it will enhance America’s image around the world,” Delahunt said. “Over the past eight years, the United States’ share of the world travel market has decreased by nearly 20 percent, costing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. We need to reverse that trend and create more jobs here at home.”
Since introducing the bipartisan bill two years ago with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Delahunt has pressed for its enactment as a way to boost the economy and promote public diplomacy. Tourism is the fifth largest industry in Massachusetts and generates $11 billion in sales and provides nearly 14 percent of the state’s total private sector employment. One out of every eight jobs nationally is associated with the tourism industry.
Given the economic importance of travel and tourism, nearly every developed nation in the world has a promotion program. Australia, Greece, Mexico and Malaysia spend more than $110 million annually competing for visitors. The United Kingdom and Turkey spend more than $80 million annually; Canada spends more than $60 million each year. While 633,000 fewer overseas travelers visited the United States in 2008 than in 2000, other countries welcomed more international visitors. Over the same period, international visitation to the United Kingdom has increased by 24 percent, Australia is up 18 percent and Mexico is up 8 percent. These nations are competing with the United States for international visitors, and are winning.
The Travel Promotion Act will create a public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier international travel destination. The legislation calls for travel promotion to be paid for by private sector contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who enter the United States under the auspices of the visa waiver program.
The bill - which requires no money from the American taxpayer - is estimated to attract 1.6 million new international visitors to the country and add $4 billion to the U.S. economy and reduce the federal deficit by $425 million over the next decade. An analysis by the U.S. Travel Association reveals that this program would create nearly 40,000 new American jobs.
The bill legislation will now go back to the Senate for final clearance and then on to President Obama for his signature before becoming law.
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