May 24, 2004

Remarks by Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz, Chair of the Conference of Mayors Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee at the Second National Summit on Travel and Tourism, May 12, Washington (DC)

Miami is a city that fully understands the economic and social impact of the travel and tourism industry.

Just last year, we hosted over 10 million overnight visitors who spent $10 billion dollars. Over 130 thousand Miamians are directly employed by the industry.

Our airport is one of the busiest in the country, with 30 million travelers last year.

Our port is recognized as both the cruise capital of the world and the cargo gateway of the Americas, serving over 4 million passengers and is home port of call for 18 cruise ships.

Our hotel industry is experiencing unprecedented success with occupancy increases in the greater Miami area of 5 percent over the national average. 65 percent of the 55,000 hotel rooms in greater Miami are filled every single night of the year.

We are increasing our supply to meet this demand, adding 3,000 new hotel rooms in the past 3 years. And in the past 5 years 50 new properties have been constructed, six of which are four or five star hotels with another three ready to break ground in the next 18 months creating thousands of new jobs.

Yet, what is most important in all these numbers and statistics is the direct impact this industry has on our city.

Miami is among the top five American cities that rely on tourism for revenue and jobs and we recognize that we simply could not survive without this industry.

In 2003, tourists generated $84 million dollars in local taxes, saving each of our residents $260 in property taxes and making it possible for our city to continue elderly feeding programs, mentoring for children, and other services for our neediest residents.

When we make our streets cleaner and safer and add cultural attractions, we benefit not just our visitors, but our residents as well.

And we continue to make great strides in the attraction and retention of your industry.

After 9/11 our governor and legislature approved a $20 million dollar strategic marketing plan aimed to expediently revive Florida's tourism industry. The state's portion of the investment was matched with an additional $25 million dollars by the private sector and government entities.

Additionally, our city's relationship with the tourism and visitor industry has been crucial. Credit is owed to our downtown hotel task force for working closely with me in targeting the allocation of capital resources to better improve our infrastructure and make us more attractive to all types of travelers.

We have further partnered with our local visitors and convention bureau to establish an incentive fund to further attract large conventions and events, with specific emphasis on those events being coordinated during our off-peak seasons.

These and other efforts have given Miami the opportunity to host the Latin Grammys in 2003. We are also the American home of Art Basel, the world's largest art fair and later this year the 2004 MTV video music awards will be televised live from Miami — the first time in the show's history that it will be held outside New York City or Los Angeles.

Directly connected but often overlooked is the impact of the arts and culture on the travel and tourism industry. Nationally, the non-profit art industry generates $134 billion dollars in economic activity per year. I recognize this impact. I am a firm believer that arts mean business.

As a result, we are re-investing hundreds of millions of tourist tax dollars in the arts and culture. A key example of this effort is our new $400 million performing arts center, future home to our symphony, ballet and opera being built at no cost to the residents of Miami.

The economic impact to our city of this new center is staggering. New real estate development is estimated at $4 billion dollars, 25,000 new construction jobs and 2,500 new permanent jobs will be created.

It is also interesting to note that cruise ship passengers are very focused on art. Last year, passengers on carnival cruise line ships spent over $50 million dollars buying artwork onboard the cruise ships.

And when these passengers dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the most popular activity was not to visit their beautiful beaches but their new art museum.

A recent report by Smithsonian magazine and the Travel Industry Association of America shows that 81 percent of adults who traveled last year included historical or cultural activities in their itinerary. Thirty percent of these travelers revealed that in choosing their pick of a destination for travel, they were influenced by a cultural activity or attraction.

Mayors are on the front line of our country's economy. A study by the United States Conference of Mayors shows that metropolitan areas accounted for 86 percent of the nation's economy in 2002, driving the economic performance of the nation as a whole.

Metro areas will remain the focal point of economic activity over the next 25 years, growing to 87.3 percent of the national economy.

Many mayors around the country recognize the significant contribution of the travel tourism industry and its direct links to the arts and culture as an economic catalyst.

Over the past eight years, the travel and tourism industry has generated more than 57 million jobs, $4 trillion dollars in expenditures, $622 billion dollars in state, local and federal taxes and $157 billion dollars in trade surpluses.

The travel and tourism industry is our nation's third largest employer trailing only the health and business service industries.

Yet there is something that remains missing — a key element — our nation lacks a clear and coherent federal policy for travel and tourism.

As chair of the United States Conference of Mayors Committee on Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports, I urge your support for the creation of a federal post that would become a focused national advocate on all issues related to travel, tourism, arts and culture.

A national advocate charged with the task of forming the national policy for tourism, arts and culture, and solely dedicated to the protection, development and expansion of this industry.

We have an energy secretary; we have a homeland security secretary; we have an EPA director, a drug czar, a surgeon general, a manufacturing czar, a trade representative — all to establish policies, priorities and objectives for the nation.

Meanwhile a large number of federal agencies have a profound day-to-day effect on tourism and travel in the U.S. — including the Departments of Transportation, State, Interior, Commerce and Homeland Defense — and a large number of other federal agencies make policy decisions that directly affect tourism and travel.

Since 9/11, new measures involving biometric passports, visa guidelines and airport security just to name a few are being considered or already adopted.

Yet, when these decisions get made, who is sitting at the table speaking for the industry?

While we recognize the critical need for increased homeland security, we must balance it with our ability to welcome and serve millions of visitors that generate billions of dollars annually for our country.

Other countries throughout the world see the logic of this reasoning and have established cabinet level positions for arts and culture, and for tourism. Sixty'six percent of the countries in the western hemisphere have a cabinet level minister of tourism. Fifty-eight percent have a minister of culture and arts. An astounding 80 percent of the countries in Europe have a minister of culture and arts.

It is time this country give the travel and tourism industry this same recognition and stature!

As manufacturing, computer, and service jobs are being outsourced to other countries — the future economic survival of our country and our cities rests on our ability to maximize the impact of the tourism, arts and cultural industries.

This is why I ask for your help and support in lobbying our president, members of congress and other decision makers to convince them that it is time we have a Secretary of Tourism and Culture to serve as an advocate that integrates and solidifies the position of the United States.

This was a necessary idea prior to 9/11, it is now imperative.