FORT LAUDERDALE -- Tourism marketer Brand USA, operating on a sharply pared-down budget this year, faces an uphill battle to get full funding restored for the coming fiscal year.
The organization is also fighting for survival. The travel lobby is pushing hard for Brand USA's reauthorization when its current eight-year Congressional authorization expires at the end of September 2027. During the U.S. Travel Association's IPW conference in May, association CEO Geoff Freeman said it's a formidable task "in a challenging political environment."
"What will happen in the midterm elections, and what effect will that have on Brand USA's prospects?" Freeman posed.
Last year's One Big Beautiful Bill was not kind to Brand USA, an organization that is publicly and privately funded.
The federal government's matching funds were slashed from $100 million to $20 million. The organization's total budget for the 2026 fiscal year was $157.8 million, down from $252 million the year before.
Due to the federal funding cut, Brand USA eliminated 12 positions, a staff reduction of 15%, and eliminated its
GoUSA TV network.
Last October, Brand USA launched its "America the Beautiful" tourism campaign. In previous years, Brand USA would roll out marketing campaigns in as many as 25 countries, but the current one is limited to 10 countries because of the smaller budget, said Brand USA CEO Fred Dixon.
Despite a more limited reach, Brand USA said the "America the Beautiful" campaign is working. The organization said an internal analysis showed that its messaging positively influences 70% of people who are exposed to it.
Still, Brand USA and destination management organizations across the U.S. are swimming upstream in the international market. Last year, inbound U.S. tourism decreased 5.5%, to 68.3 million, according to the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. The decline was fueled by widespread resentment in Canada and Western Europe to Trump's tariff policies and his rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state and annexing Greenland.
In 2025, the U.S. was the world's worst year-over-year tourism performer among the major markets. DMOs say Brand USA is needed more than ever to reverse the decline and that funding cuts have hurt them, too, because Brand USA has fewer dollars for partner campaigns.
Mike Mangeot, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism and a Brand USA board member, said Brand USA, when fully funded, would buttress every dollar that Kentucky spends on international tourism marketing with two or three additional dollars.
The Brand USA money has helped Kentucky internationally promote bourbon tourism and attractions like the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
"With that match and funding gone, we've not been able to do as much in many of these international source markets," Mangeot said.
NYC Tourism + Conventions CEO Julie Coker said that 42% of all international U.S. visitors arrive in New York City. NYC Tourism, she said, works closely with Brand USA on a mix of marketing programs and media missions.
"As I see it, Brand USA is the umbrella for all the cities and states. And so, when they are robust and fully funded, it helps all of us," she said.
Uphill battle in Congress
In November, a bipartisan group of six senators introduced the Visit USA Act to restore the $100 million funding for Brand USA. The bill now has 14 co-sponsors: nine Democrats and five Republicans. President Trump's 2027 fiscal year budget request also includes $100 million for Brand USA.
Nevertheless, it will be difficult to get the funding restored, said U.S. Travel's Freeman.
"We have a couple of individuals in Congress who've long opposed a government program here. They're in positions of power, and we're doing everything we can to change that," he said.
Among Brand USA's established opponents is Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Freeman also noted overriding Senate politics could prevent a funding restoration. The Visit USA Act, if enacted, would most likely be tacked onto a larger spending bill, he said. However, incumbent senators who lost primaries to Trump-backed challengers may not back Trump's agenda.
Republican senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas are lame ducks after losing in primaries. And Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has clashed with Trump over the president's policies and appointments, is retiring at the end of the year.
Without a political incentive to back Trump's agenda, those three senators could make it more difficult for bills to move through Congress ahead of the new fiscal year in October.
Meanwhile, Freeman said U.S. Travel has begun focusing on Brand USA reauthorization ahead of its expiration in fall 2027.
Dixon said Brand USA has spent lots of time and energy on Capitol Hill and across the administration educating officials on the organization's impact. They are optimistic their efforts will pay off.
"We have a great story and a great product. Our impact is only affected by the resources that we have," he said.