The Obama Administration gave a tremendous boost to the tourism industry today by making tourism interests a national priority in the first-ever National Travel and Tourism Strategy. The Administration’s action recognizes travel and tourism as making a critical contribution to the U.S. economy and provides an opportunity to establish travel and tourism as fundamental to America’s prosperity. Since the job recovery began, the tourism industry has created more than 260,000 new jobs, far outpacing job growth in the rest of the economy. A study released last year by the McKinsey Global Institute projects the leisure and hospitality sector could add between 2.1 million and 3.3 million new jobs in this decade.
The strategy outlined today by U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who co-chaired a intra-agency task force to develop the plan, commits the U.S. government to address numerous issues that can help improve travel to and within the United States and increase American jobs in the process.
The National Travel and Tourism Strategy broadly includes:
- Expanding the government’s promotional efforts to market the United States as a destination: This will include greater visibility of travel and tourism by senior officials, using technology and data resources more effectively, and coordinating with Brand USA to promote international travel to the U.S. The strategy sets a goal of increasing American jobs by attracting and welcoming 100 million international visitors annually by the end of 2021, more than a 50 percent increase over the number expected this year.
- Enabling and enhancing greater facilitation of travel to and within the U.S.: This includes taking action to expand the Visa Waiver Program, improving visa processing, expanding the trusted traveler program and improving screening processes at airports, and using grants to improve transportation infrastructure.
The Administration is embracing the power of travel and the strategy suggests a newfound appreciation for several key points:
- Every 33 overseas visitors to the United States support one American job that cannot be outsourced.
- The need to re-establish the United States as the world’s top travel destination. The U.S. owns just 12 percent of the global travel market — down from 17 percent a decade ago.
- The travel experience is littered with hassles that can be eliminated. Improving the air travel experience, for example, can add $85 billion in air traveler spending, which will support 900,000 jobs.
- Making it easier for people to attend business meetings, tradeshows and conventions boosts our economy by $263 billion annually and supports 1.7 million American jobs.
- The travel industry provides jobs for 14.4 million Americans and generates $124 billion in tax revenues nationally and for states and local communities. Travel can drive the economic recovery and put millions of Americans back to work.
“The President and the Administration deserve thanks for taking an enormously important step forward for our industry during this 29th annual National Travel and Tourism Week,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “We are pleased to see that the national strategy has an expanded role for travel and tourism within the federal government.”