WASHINGTON -- Senators Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) and Conrad Burns
(R-Mont.), co-chairs of the Senate Tourism Caucus, introduced a
bill to fund the U.S. National Tourism Office.
The Visit USA Act includes no specific dollar amount, but its
backers believe it is more likely to pass that way and are pursuing
the possibility of attaching it to other legislation to assure
passage.
Unless Congress provides funding before adjourning for the year
in early October, the USNTO will cease to exist.
Other provisions in the bill call for improved signage to better
direct travelers and a toll-free, multi-lingual visitor information
phone line.
A controversial provision to make permanent the visa-waiver
program was dropped to improve chances of passage.
So far, companion legislation has not been introduced in the
House.