Giving The Travel Industry A "Bailout"
Last month, the bill cleared a Senate sub-committee and it enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The House unanimously passed a similar bill last September, but due to the financial crisis the Senate never got around to voting on it (among the supporters were then-senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden).
Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of the bill's 22 co-sponsors, said it is one of the bills he plans to get through before the summer recess. If successful, the TPA could serve as an eleventh-hour stimulus for the U.S. travel industry where business is down and layoffs are up.
"Right now, we are going through the roughest time ever," said Roger Dow, the President and C.E.O. of U.S. Travel Association. The economic recession and swine flu fears are among the obvious culprits, along with more abstract problems like post-Sept. 11 travel fears and what's being called the "AIG effect"—companies scared to spend money on corporate travel or off-site conferences.
According to the Department of Commerce, the United States saw an 8 percent decline in overseas tourists from 2000 to 2007, even with a favorable exchange rate and overall increases in international travel.
Other foreign governments market their countries to Americans as vacation getaways, but no U.S. equivalent exists abroad. For example, in 2005, various European Union governments spent a combined $800 million promoting themselves to tourists. The United States spent nothing.
Supporters of the Travel Promotion Act believe a successful promotion campaign abroad is a surefire way to boost the United States' reputation, explain security protocols and, of course, capitalize on tourism.
"We've got to turn things around," said Dow. "The U.S. should be the number one international destination."