The Senate passed the Travel Promotion Act on Thursday night by a vote of 78-18, setting the stage for the development of a federally-funded, tourism-marketing campaign such as this country has never seen before.
President Obama, who was a cosponsor of the bill when he was in the Senate, is expected to sign the measure in a few days.
When fully implemented, the law will make available up to $200 million per year in public and private-sector cash, goods and services to support a new Corporation for Travel Promotion with a two-pronged mission.
The first is to design and implement international marketing campaigns to promote the U.S. as a tourism destination in foreign countries.
Secondly, the corporation will be responsible for distributing official information to travelers and travel professionals around the word about U.S. entry requirements and border security practices.
For the travel industry, passage of the bill marks a major milestone, as lobbyists from various industry segments have sought for years to get the federal government involved in tourism promotion abroad.
Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Association, called the bill's passage "a historic victory for the U.S. economy and the one in eight American workers whose jobs depend on travel."
"The United States Congress has sent a clear message that travel is a high priority to our nation, and that tangible steps must be taken to increase travel to and within the United States," Dow said.
Under the auspices of U.S. Travel, a task force of industry individuals has been developing a strategic plan and road map to assist planners in implementing the law, with an eye toward having an international marketing plan in place in about 18 months.
The strategic plan, expected to be presented to the Commerce Department next week, lays out some of the first key steps that will be necessary to get the tourism promotion program up and running.
The law directs the Secretary of Commerce to appoint an 11-member board of directors, representing various industry segments, to incorporate the new organization and hire an executive director. Job one, therefore, will be getting the board of directors in place. The plan recommends that the Commerce Department form a "nominating committee" to begin that process.
Simultaneously, the plan suggests that the Department of Homeland Security begin working on the details of imposing the fee on foreign travelers that will be the source of the federal contribution to the corporation’s budget.
Under existing procedures, visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries are required to go online, enter their passport and itinerary information, and obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization prior to travel.
The DHS will have to add a transaction capability to the various foreign-language websites that it operates in those 35 countries, and give adequate advance notice to travelers about the fee.
The strategic plan assumes that DHS will accomplish the task in nine months.
The plan also contains timeline targets for numerous other start-up tasks, including developing an organizational structure, hiring staff, establishing advisory committees to receive industry input, fielding consumer research and developing a branding strategy and marketing plan for global advertising.
The expectation is that the first components of the marketing plan would be implemented in about 17 months.
U.S. Travel’s proposed strategic plan suggests that the corporation’s guiding principal should be "doing for the industry and U.S. economy what individual organizations cannot do alone. With this as its focus, the corporation should seek to develop inbound travel strategies and programs that fill gaps not currently addressed by the industry, and avoid duplicating or competing with current inbound travel promotion activities."
The plan also encourages the corporation to develop customized marketing approaches for different regions and countries, recognizing that "perception issues and barriers to inbound travel" vary from country to country.
The plan recommends that developers of the marketing strategy take into consideration such factors as the size and growth potential of various source markets, the "visitor value" (i.e., average expenditures and length of stay).
