President Obama announces national travel & tourism strategy to bring more visitors to the U.S.
You’ve heard ad nauseam that a collective voice on Capitol Hill will send a message. But that’s with good reason. Yesterday, the travel industry’s consistent advocacy to take advantage of growing international travel trends and make the United States more accessible to foreign visitors paid off.
President Obama addressed an event at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Fla., unveiling his direction to the U.S. Department of Commerce to create a task force for a “National Travel & Tourism Strategy,” aimed at growing the U.S. economy through increased international travel to the United States. As we have reported here in the past few months, the travel industry has banded together to promote the United States internationally while simultaneously making it easier to travel here.
”Every year, tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America. And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work,” said President Obama. “We need to help businesses all across the country grow and create jobs; compete and win. That’s how we’re going to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try.”
“Encouraging more visitors to come to the United States to stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores and explore this great country, will deliver a much needed economic boost while strengthening U.S. relations around the world,” added Stephen J. Cloobeck, CEO of Diamond Resorts International and Chairman of the recently formed Brand USA.
Specifically, the President's plan includes the following:
•Expanding and making permanent the Global Entry program.
•Increasing efforts to expand the Visa Waiver Program and travel by nationals eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, including through nomination of Taiwan to the program.
•Increasing non-immigrant visa processing capacity in Brazil and China by 40 percent in 2012.
•Creating an interagency government task force to work with Brand USA to promote travel and tourism opportunities in the U.S. to create jobs.
Aside from industry support, many of the provisions were part of the International Tourism Facilitation Act that was introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) in October 2011. As part of his announcement, President Obama gave an Executive Order to the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security to grant a waiver of up to 3 additional years (4 years total) that would expand the period for foreign visitors to renew their tourist visas without requiring the tourist to undergo another in-person interview. Today, travelers go through a complicated process often involving long trips to U.S. embassies and consulates every year they want to take a vacation in the United States. Lengthening this renewal period would facilitate more frequent vacations to America by these tourists and boost local economies while still ensuring national security.
The Klobuchar-Blunt legislation would also help alleviate excessively long wait times for international travelers to receive U.S. visas. In countries such as Brazil, it can take up to 150 days to obtain a United States visa, while it takes Brazilian citizens approximately 12 days to receive a similar visa to the United Kingdom. The International Tourism Facilitation Act would incentivize the State Department to improve the visa process by allowing the Department to reinvest fees charged for visas if the Department improves the efficiency with which it processes visas.
“This announcement advancing our legislation will help reduce the red tape currently restricting growth in our tourism sector, creating greater opportunities for countless American businesses,” Klobuchar said.
Blunt added, “By streamlining our visa processing system without jeopardizing our nation’s security, we can help spur economic development.”
The global travel industry is booming, but despite this, since 2000, the U.S. share of overseas arrivals has fallen from 17 to 12.4 percent, even as worldwide travel grew by 40 percent over the same timeframe. According to the U.S. Travel Association, losing just one percentage point of the total world international travel market potentially costs the U.S. 161,000 jobs.
In 2010, the travel and tourism industry supported 7.4 million direct travel jobs; generated $188.4 billion in wages; and directly contributed $118 billion in tax revenue to government at all levels, contributing greatly to economic recovery nationwide. In fact, according to the U.S. Travel Association, between March 2010 and July 2011, job growth in the travel industry was 84 percent faster than the rest of the economy.
Particularly, as the administration has recognized through this strategy, travel from the emerging markets of Brazil, China and India will be important growth markets. Travel from these countries increased 110 percent between 2000 and 2010. Spending from these countries resulted in $14.9 billion in export revenue in 2010. Demand for visas is stronger than ever from these emerging markets and growing - since 2005 demand from Brazil has gone up 234 percent, 124 percent in China and 51 percent in India.
“Promoting travel produces a multiplier effect that benefits all industries, and TTAB estimates we could add 500,000 new U.S. jobs by 2015 with no cost to taxpayers,” says Nancy Johnson, American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) chair and executive vice president, development, Carlson Hotels, America.
Overall, though it’s just the first step, this national strategy validates what industry advocates and Brand USA have been working for over many years.
"Brand USA is committed to bringing more travelers to the United States to explore the incredible diversity of experiences, attractions and possibilities this country offers, but our efforts must be met with a similar commitment from the federal government to ensure our nation's welcome is consistent throughout the international visitor's entire travel process," said Cloobeck. "Today's announcement is a welcome first step. In coordination with the administration's new strategy, Brand USA will build smarter and more effective marketing tools that maximize our nation's potential as the leading travel destination in the world."
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