Congress Passes Act to Market U.S. to International Tourists

Congress passed a bill this week (to be signed by President Obama as its being supported by the White House) to market the US to international visitors.

Officials in South Florida have been lobbying for the Travel Promotion Act for almost two years. This Act creates a $10 fee charged mostly to European visitors (those foreign travelers who don’t need visas) to fund up to $100 million a year for advertising campaigns and other marketing efforts. The travel industry would provide the other $100 million in joint ad purchases, donated trips for travel writers, and other in-kind contributions.

Foreign visitors account for about half of Miami-Dade's 12 million annual visitors, the biggest share of international tourism among the country's major hotel markets, and for about 20 percent of Broward’s tourism market.

The Commerce Department says foreign arrivals hit a record 58 million in 2008, but the travel industry sees the United States losing market share in the global tourism industry as other countries spend more on promotion.

Many other countries have a cabinet-level tourism ministry and large tourism marketing budgets in competition for travelers. By contrast, the United States has a small tourism office mainly devoted to research and there has not been a national tourism campaign for over ten years when promotions amounted to less than $50 million in a 3-year period.

Local tourism marketing officials feel this is a great opportunity, especially in today’s economy, to bring foreign press here to tout our benefits to the world.
Congrats to all.

Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider