Passed by the House of Representatives on July 22, bill H.R. 4450, also known as the Travel Promotion, Enhancement and Modernization Act of 2014, seeks to extend the promotion and marketing of the U.S. for international tourism under the Travel Promotion Act of 2009.
In a statement, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow commends Brand USA for boosting international tourism and supporting domestic jobs.
“The travel community heartily congratulates House leaders of both parties for embracing a policy that pays clear dividends for the U.S. economy: extending Brand USA and the outstanding work it does to attract international travelers and their dollars to American shores.
“The job-creating effects of travel activity, and the back-end return on travel-promotion efforts, are both absolutely beyond questioning. It’s hard to believe that in the hyper-competitive global travel market, the U.S. was without any agency performing these functions at a national level before Brand USA came into being three years ago. It’s why we were losing market share to destinations in Asia and Europe, where tourism promotion is usually a cabinet-level public ministry.
“By moving to keep Brand USA in business, the House has paved the way for us to build on our record 70 million inbound international visitors last year, each of whom spent $4,500 on average per trip — dollars that support jobs that cannot be exported.”
First introduced in 2009, the Travel Promotion Act established an independent nonprofit corporation to promote U.S. travel by providing useful information and correcting misperceptions about U.S. entry policies.
