By Tom McClimon
October 12, 2009

The US House of Representatives on October 7 passed the US Travel Promotion Act, which was included in the Mayors Ten Point Action Plan as a priority issue. The US Conference of Mayors passed its first resolution in support of the federal government establishing an international marketing program at its 74th Annual Conference in 2006 and has reaffirmed that support unanimously every year since.

The US Travel Promotion Act was incorporated into the Morris K Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Amendments Act of 2009. The Senate passed the legislation on September 9 as a separate bill.

“We applaud the House action today and hope that the Senate acts quickly to again pass this measure which it overwhelmingly did just last month,” stated Conference of Mayors President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. “We know that attracting more international visitors will create jobs and benefit many of our local economies.”

“Ever since 9/11, mayors have recognized the importance of travel and tourism to their communities,” stated Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran and former board member of the Travel Business Roundtable. “We’ve lost jobs and businesses in our cities as a result of losing our share of the international visitors.”

“Tourism is Hawaii’s number one industry, and this important legislation will help boost our economy and the visitor industry nationwide,” said Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Chairman of the Conference’s Standing Committee on Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports. “We’re very grateful to the House for endorsing this effort, and we will continue working hard to win final approval by the Senate.”

The Travel Promotion Act will create a public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier international travel destination and communicate US security and entry policies. The travel promotion will be paid for by private sector contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers. The US Travel Association, of which the US Conference of Mayors is a member, estimates that the bill would attract 1.6 million new international visitors, create nearly 40,000 new jobs in its first year, and would generate $4 billion in new economic activity and contribute over $320 million in new federal tax revenue each year.