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“TRAVEL-TOURISM WEEK” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2535-H2539 on April 29, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAVEL-TOURISM WEEK
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague today. I know how proud his mother must be as he ascends in the chair of the United States Congress in his first term. I am sure the people of Wisconsin are indeed fortunate and proud to have him representing them. And I salute him as he leads this Chamber today during our Special Orders.
Our Special Order today is designed to highlight Travel and Tourism Week, May 2 through May 8. Wednesday, May 5, is Tourist Appreciation Day; and in honor of this day there is a reception being held in the Longworth cafeteria from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Why are we focusing on travel and tourism today? Well, my colleagues, it is vitally important to the economic mission, if you will, of all Floridians and all Americans. We have a lot to boast about when we think of the great resources around our country that people from all over the world come to each and every day. And some of us take those, frankly, for granted.
So I wanted to illuminate some of the things that are occurring in Florida's 16th District, talk about some of the revenues derived from tourism, and talk also as well about some of the significant sites in my district. Florida's 16th Congressional District has over $1 billion in travel expenditures annually. Over 16,000 people are employed in the travel business in the 16th District, earning a total of $236 million.
Restaurants, one of which I started, in 1980 I started the Lettuce Patch Restaurant, a small family restaurant, with my parents, and we began to develop a network of friends and customers. Well, 1999 has been designated the Year of the Restaurant by the Commerce Department.
Nationwide, international travelers spend more than $97 billion dining out in restaurants around America. Restaurants are the leading source of travel industry jobs in the United States. 47.8 million foreign travelers visited the United States in 1997, 47.8 million foreign visitors, a tremendous impact on both employment, economic opportunity, and job development. In fact, the restaurants have been leading the way in providing substantial jobs for those that are moving from welfare to work.
In fact, my first job in life was in a restaurant. I was a dishwasher in a small restaurant in Lake Worth, Florida. I obviously had to attend that job on a regular schedule basis. I learned the value of hard work, and I realized how hard it was to manage a small business. I learned what the impact of regulation was on taxes, on, if you will, customer preference.
So I got a huge experience at the age of 14 in my first job as a dishwasher, which then led me to start my own business, started the restaurant, as I said. And I said earlier it was 1980. It was actually 1975. But it taught me an entrepreneurial spirit. So the restaurant industry is, of course, alive and well and thriving throughout America's cities.
Projections for 1999. Travel and tourism contributes a total of $70 billion in Federal, State, and local tax revenue. $70 billion in Federal, State, and local tax revenue. Travel and tourism will represent 12 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States.
The United States' travel and tourism will have a trade surplus of
$24.7 billion. Travel and tourism will support more than 7 million people in direct jobs and nearly $128 billion in payroll each year. Let me repeat that. Travel and tourism will support more than 7 million people in direct jobs and nearly 128 billion in payroll dollars each year. Travel and tourism was the United States' leading service export and third largest export overall.
Now, when we talk about travel and tourism, we do not just talk about restaurants, we talk about transportation. In 1997, airline passenger traffic increased 4.6 percent to top 605 million passenger miles. Amtrak passenger traffic grew to reach 5.2 billion passenger miles.
Now, one of the things I like to boast about and why I am proud of the 16th District is the vast array of assets that we have to entice people to come to Florida. One is significant because it is a national park. It is the Everglades National Park, managed by our National Park Service.
The Everglades National Park is the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the continental United States, and has extensive fresh and salt water areas, open everglades prairies and mangrove forests. It has abundant wildlife, includes rare and colorful birds. And this is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side-
by-side.
The park is 1,506,539 acres or 606,688 hectares in size. It is a World Heritage site, an international biosphere reserve, and a wetland of international significance.
Now, obviously, people come from around the world to see Everglades National Park. But it also has a dual purpose. It not only is a national park, it is also the reservoir for water to supply South Floridians with the vital need of fresh, clean, clear drinking water. The park acts as an ecosystem. It is a natural refuge, as I mentioned, for birds and animals, but also for the sustenance of life in South Florida.
Now, program activities include ranger-led walks and talks, the boat tours, tram tours. But, most significantly, it is the educational programs that are arranged. The Everglades National Park sponsors on-
site curriculum-based education programs for local fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Participation in these programs is by advance reservation, and teachers are required to attend training workshops before their classes are allowed to be admitted to the park. So it serves vital resources, tourist education and, obviously, clean and clear and abundant water.
The main park is 38 miles of road winding from the entrance to Flamingo. U.S. 41 leads to the Shark Valley entrance, and U.S. 29 leads to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. Parking is available for buses at all visitor centers.
Now, this is a national park in which we are all vitally interested. In fact, this Congress has appropriated more money than any Congress in the past in order to provide and make certain that the Everglades National Park remains a vital, important national treasure.
I know every Member of Congress can talk about travel and tourism in their district, as well. I would like to show, in fact, a picture painted by my mother of the Jupiter Lighthouse. This is in my district. This, of course, is a rendering of one of the most historic sites in Palm Beach County.
And of course Jupiter, in the northern part of my district, is clearly proud of its lighthouse and, obviously, its history. But this is one I am proudly displaying in my office. In fact, many people comment as they come from our community how impressed they are with the painting. And I am thankful to my mother, clearly, for doing it for me. But most importantly, it represents something that most people when they come to our Nation's Capital can look at and admire and reflect on the fact that they just recently arrived from Florida, and they can see something that relates back to my district that they can enjoy and talk about.
The Jupiter Lighthouse was constructed in 1853 under the administration of President Franklin Pierce, and he appropriated at that time the sum of $25,000 for the building of the lighthouse at Jupiter Inlet. It was designed by Lieutenant George Gordon Meade, who later gained fame as the general in command of the victorious Union forces at the battle of Gettysburg.
The site was selected and the materials brought in in 1854. And of course it served as clearly an indication for navigational traffic, to make certain that they would arrive safely into the Jupiter Inlet at the time. And so this was one of our first vitally important public works projects by the Nation, but now is the oldest structure in Palm Beach County, and it is listed on the Natural Register of Historic Places. The lighthouse is maintained by the Florida History Center and Museum in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard.
So those are just a few of the places that exist in Florida that are, of course, vitally important, and we have many, many others.
Mr. Speaker, I see a friend approaching who would certainly like to speak, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen), the chairman; and I would be delighted to yield to the chairman to talk about travel and tourism in his State.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Florida yielding.
Let me just say, as chairman of the Committee on Public Lands and National Parks, I cannot believe how much people love parks. I tell my friend from Florida, there was a survey done recently on what the American people like the very most about America or the United States Government, and the thing that came out number one was the national parks. People love our parks. In fact, they love them to death.
And does my colleague know what they love the least? Maybe I should not even bring this up. It was the Internal Revenue Service.
Be that as it may, I am glad to join with my friend here and talk about the economic effects of many visitors who come to Utah for business and pleasure. And it is very substantial.
In Utah we have five national parks: Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches. We have seven national monuments: Cedar Breaks, Rainbow Bridge, Dinosaur, Natural Bridges, Hovenweep, Timpanogas Cave, and on September 16, 1998, the President of the United States gave us one that we really did not want very badly but we have it now, and it is called the Grand Staircase Escalante.
In addition to that, we have the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, known as Lake Powell, and the Golden Spike National Historic Site, one of the most beautiful areas that we have in the West.
These scenic, cultural, and historic sites draw thousands of visitors to Utah each year to absorb and enjoy the wondrous lessons, stories, and inspiration to be gained from these special places.
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The same can be said of the thousands of acres of public lands in Utah's national forests and those administered by the Bureau of Land Management. As these visitors seek out great destinations in Utah's public lands, there is a group of professional service providers in most of the units of the national park system to meet their necessary and appropriate needs.
My thanks go to these dedicated people who work at our several parks and the concession companies who work so diligently doing it. They provide the food, the laundry and the transportation, souvenirs and equipment rentals. Every day there are meetings, talking with and assisting the visitors to enjoy a more comfortable and safe experience. The park concessionaires are a vital cog in the network of those who make travel and tourism a major part of the Utah economy.
Many others in the broader area of the hospitality industry serve our national parks as well as other networks. It is fun, as the chairman of the Subcommittee Committee on National Parks, to go into the parks of America, like going into Yellowstone, and say, ``What do you like about Yellowstone?'' Some people like the bears, some people like the geysers. Some say, ``I just like the lodge, I like to go to the Old Faithful Lodge or the Lake Lodge or I like to go out on the lake.'' We all have something different we see in these areas. But we are so blessed in this country. Teddy Roosevelt was so right, if I may say so, when he established those. I guess I kind of zero in on those because so many, many people go to the parks of America.
Frankly, if I may say so, the parks are the best deal in America. In 1915 they could go to Yellowstone Park and drive their old Model A or Model T in there and it cost them $10. In 1996 the cost of taking a car into Yellowstone was $10. As you know, we have traded that up just a tad, and now they pay a few more dollars for it. It is funny how many people will write me and say, ``Mr. Chairman, we are getting such a good deal, I feel like I have ripped off the public'' and they send money, which I immediately give to the Treasury, I want the gentleman to know. It is interesting to see how many people realize what a good deal they have got. If you take the wife and family out to a show and dinner, you are going to pay a lot more than you would pay to go into our parks.
As we observe National Tourism Week, 1999, I am proud to join with my colleagues in saluting all of those involved with travel and tourism across America, in my home State of Utah and pledge my cooperation to work in continuing the great results that come from this extremely vital part of our economy.
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Utah for his strong and dedicated work on funding our national parks, because that in fact is a real magnet, if you will, for people coming to America. As he clearly stated in his time allocated, that people desperately love to come to see the natural resources that we have to offer. Many of them in their own countries have not prioritized preservation of public lands in order to enhance not only this generation but future generations to come.
The gentleman from Utah has not only been a good steward of those resources but has appropriately given credit to President Teddy Roosevelt for establishing them. I think that is lost on a lot of people. But it took foresight, dedication and, I am sure, perseverance when there were other demands for dollars to be spent to preserve what are then great heritage sites for us that become something that is synonymous with America and represents, I think, the great fabric of our society. I want to commend the gentleman from Utah for that leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) who is also another strong advocate of tourism and probably can tell us a number of great sites that are located within the wonderful State of Maryland.
Mrs. MORELLA. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) for taking out this special order. I would certainly recognize the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) also for the stewardship he has shown and certainly the leadership that the gentleman from Florida has shown.
I wanted to make sure I came down to the floor of the House to be able to comment to this body about how important travel and tourism is, because every year more than 21 million visitors travel from every part of the country and the far corners of the world to Washington, D.C. The District is the Nation's capital. It is a cultural hub with many fine museums and theaters, and it is home to many fine colleges and universities. These visitors bring economic prosperity to the metropolitan Washington area, creating jobs, income and tax revenues for the local area.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the travel and tourism industry which has long been an important part of the American economy. The industry is the Nation's second largest employer, providing more than 16 million jobs. It is the third largest retail sales industry. In 1998, it generated more than $71 billion in tax revenues for Federal, State and local governments. The travel and tourism industry is diverse and it touches every sector of our society, from business to the arts to education. Dollars that tourists spend trickle down to local communities and benefit the whole U.S. economy.
The good news is that people are traveling at record rates and the industry is proving that it is an economic success story. The travel and tourism industry is often perceived as a collection of separate business industries: the hotel industry, airline industry, the cruise line industry, the car rental industry and the food and beverage industry. Considered as a whole, travel and tourism is an industrial powerhouse. It is critical to the economy of every State in our Nation.
In 1996, travel spending generated nearly 97,000 jobs in my State of Maryland, and nearly $1.9 billion in salaries and wages for Maryland residents. The 97,000 travel-generated jobs comprise 4.4 percent of the total State nonagricultural employment. Domestic and international travelers spent more than $6.4 billion in Maryland during 1996, of which more than $1.2 billion went to the Federal, State and local governments.
Over the past 10 years, world tourism has continued to grow. In 1997, there were 613 million international visitors to the United States. They spent approximately $444 billion. International arrivals to the United States reached 47.8 million in 1997 which was 7.8 percent of the world total.
Next week, and that is May 2nd through 8th, is National Tourism Week. The purpose of National Tourism Week is to celebrate the economic, social and cultural impact of travel and tourism on our Nation. Localities everywhere will celebrate tourism and make efforts to educate local residents on the importance and impact of tourism on their communities.
Mr. Speaker, this is a fitting time to pay tribute to the travel and tourism industry, because the industry is one of the largest in terms of employment. It is first as the Nation's largest export industry, and provides more than 684,000 executive-level positions. Spending by domestic and international travelers last year averaged $1.38 billion a day, which is $57.4 million in an hour, $955,800 a minute, and $15,900 a second. Without a doubt, travel and tourism is a major contributor to the economic well-being of our country.
I am really very pleased to add my voice to the chorus of praise to the travel and tourism industry, which brings a virtual treasure trove of economic opportunity right in our own backyards. I certainly thank the gentleman for his leadership in having us come to the floor of the House and submit statements on behalf of what is being done for our country through travel and tourism.
Mr. FOLEY. I thank the gentlewoman from Maryland.
It is my distinct pleasure to now introduce a gentleman who knows a great deal about travel and tourism, who in fact represents probably one of Florida's most dynamic cities, Orlando, which is the home to a number of large entities who have created, if you will, great opportunities for families to enjoy Florida's great opportunities, Disney, Universal and others, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) who is from Orlando, chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, and has been a leading proponent of tourism for Floridians and for all of our American citizens.
Mr. McCOLLUM. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) for having this time today. I want to join with him and the gentlewoman from Maryland who just gave the statistics that are so enlightening about the sheer dollar power of tourism to our Nation, but I can tell you as the representative who does represent, as you said, the number one tourist destination I think in the world, we have Disney World, we have Universal Studios of Florida in my district, we have Sea World, and we have lots of people who come, not just from other parts of the United States but from all over the world. Someone told me once that Brazil produced more than any other single country for tourism of Disney's products that are there and to visit the theme parks.
I think tourism is probably less understood as a business by most Americans than it should be. So this special order time and our Travel and Tourism Caucus that you work so much with and I work with is a very important thing to bring home that message.
And it is an opportunity to thank all of the people who are in the industry. We do not always think of what that industry is. I again hear the statistics rattled off about the dollars involved but there are people involved, people involved in operating those hotels, a tremendous number of hotel rooms, a tremendous number of employees who work very, very hard and contribute mightily to the business of travel and tourism. People who work in the airline industry. We would not get all those people coming here if it were not for the airlines, frankly. People who work with car rental companies. I do not know how many cars we have got but I know there are a lot of them. I remember being told that Orlando has more car rentals than anyplace else, I think, in the country, if I am not mistaken. I know it is very large.
And when we think about tourism, of course, we also immediately think about these theme parks. We have opened up so many new ones down there lately in terms of Disney has expanded, Universal has expanded and Sea World now in Orlando, and that area is about to expand with a new theme park, which will bring more business to central Florida and more business to the United States, probably add more hotel beds. We know they are building more hotel rooms every day. It is the number one industry in our State.
Agriculture, which the gentleman represents a great deal of that, is right there on its heels, has been a traditional source of very great industry to our State. But travel and tourism is indeed the thought that centers on central Florida and our State first and foremost in people's minds, again as a place to go to visit, as a place to go to have a good time.
But I think today we are more importantly saying thank you to the people who are employed in those industries, who develop and create them, who work them and who produce the economic engine that is so important to lots of other people whose jobs depend on that, who are not themselves maybe employed by the particular theme park or by the hotel or by the airline or by the car rental company or whomever else, but who would not be able to have these jobs that they have were it not for all the people who are brought into the area, is a tremendous economic engine. Again I am not here to belabor the point, but I could not resist being a part of your special order time, knowing that my home county, my hometown and my district is the number one tourist destination in the country.
Mr. FOLEY. Let me share a personal aside with the gentleman from Florida. When I was in China with Speaker Gingrich a couple of years ago when we were talking about a variety of issues relating to trade and what have you, I kept trying to explain to them where West Palm Beach, Florida was. It became very difficult. I said West Palm Beach. They were not sure where it was. Finally I decided, I am an hour and a half, two hours south of Disney; they would immediately say, ``Disney World, I know that.'' So it really is well known worldwide.
I think the other thing, if you would comment briefly, was the high-
tech side of the business. When you look at the motion picture industry and some of the other things that are going on in your district, I think that speaks to technology, it speaks to enhanced job opportunities for our youth, if the gentleman would take a moment on that.
Mr. McCOLLUM. Absolutely. I thank the gentleman for yielding. The spinoff from this is enormous. You think of jobs, I mentioned earlier, you think of the hotels and so on. But the gentleman is quite right. What is happening in our university, the large University of Central Florida and in our community college, we have programs now that have been developed in order to give opportunities for young people to get into motion picture production, to get into theater, to get into lots of things that are related to the studios and the businesses that are there that we would not otherwise have had, and as a result of that, that in addition has stimulated a lot of high-tech interest in coming to the area.
We have developed a great big technology center in central Florida now with high-tech industries that would not be there if it were not for the climate and the opportunity and the tourism and travel industry presence that was already there to begin with. We have a very large semiconductor manufacturing company there. I probably should not start naming names here of businesses.
We have the Navy, the Army and the Air Force's simulation training and research facilities in Orlando for the entire country. That in turn has spawned a lot of small-tech industries, over 150 small businesses in the last 5 years alone that have come to the region. I am confident this growth in that kind of quality business would not have occurred had it not been for Disney, Universal, Sea World and the tourism industry generally coming to Florida and to central Florida.
There is a synergy that operates around that whole area. We all know, for example, the field of animation, what is happening in that regard. Well, Disney has all these animations, but think about the games that people every day see themselves or have their kids playing on computers. One of the major computer manufacturing concerns, Electronic Arts--I named a company, I guess--came to central Florida, developed, working with a business that arose there, and they are employing people that basically use animation to make those football games and baseball games and sports games that people see played.
Most people have no idea a lot of that gamesmanship is developed in central Florida and a lot of the people they have employed are young people who came there associated with the other industry that is there, the tourism sector, the attractions sector who are involved in theater, animation and so on that go along with those theme parks.
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So, Mr. Speaker, my colleague is quite right. It is an elaborate network of job creation and high tech development as a part of that, again a synergy with travel and tourism that most people do not recognize.
Mr. FOLEY. Well, Mr. Speaker, virtually every face you come in contact with in Florida has something to do with travel and tourism, whether you are arriving at Orlando International Airport where you will see the porter or the reservation clerk or the taxicab driver or the bus operator, or as you leave that facility, you encounter somebody at the fuel station, or you get to your hotel and check in.
I think that is the dynamic that is missed on a lot of people, is the sheer job generation, and it is not necessarily that they just work in travel and tourism, but the off shoots from that; as you mentioned, high tech, the things that are occurring.
Because of a transportation system that was originally designed for the tourist industry, the large expansion of the airport which has been very, very successful, it is highly regarded and probably one of the most efficient airports. But that now has spurred, if you will, the high tech side of it because now business executives can fly from around the country right to your hub airport.
Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield on just the airport, we have seen, for example, we have a travel tourism industry right in downtown Orlando called Church Street Station, and the fact that that night spot, and it is a family type night spot that was generated there a few years ago; the fact that it exists there transformed the entire downtown of Orlando and made it a community that was revived after years of decline, as many inner cities have, so that today we have a marvelous downtown city, and I would welcome people to come visit downtown Orlando, not just go to the theme parks that are out there, and see what we have got to offer. And you now see the businesses like that so that building and construction going on of high rises and office complexes there has just grown, too.
So, Mr. Speaker, it is amazing what things are related, and again most people never think about how travel and tourism, as an industry, produces all of this change, and it has certainly done so in my community.
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for joining us today on our special order highlighting Travel and Tourism Week, which is May 2 through the 8.
Now I would like to present to my colleagues the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley), a new Member of Congress. Welcome.
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts with him for Tourism Week.
I represent the most unique district in the United States. I represent the City of Las Vegas. It is the fastest growing community in the United States. I have got the fastest growing school age population, the fastest growing senior population, the fastest growing veterans population. I have got the fastest growing Hispanic population, the fastest growing Asian population, and the fastest growing Jewish population in the United States. The reason that thousands of people, that is, 5,000 new residents a month are pouring into Las Vegas is because of the incredible strength of our economy, and our economy is based on one industry, the tourism industry.
In my home State of Nevada tourism is the very life blood of our economy. We owe our incredible quality of life and our thriving economy to one industry, and that is the tourism industry. More than one-third of our jobs in Nevada, over 315,000, are created by tourism.
In addition to gaming, world class hotels, spectacular entertainment, fine dining, and the wonders of the Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam and the Red Rock Canyon, visitors to Las Vegas have the opportunity to experience the majesty of the Grand Canyon by taking air tours that depart from my district. Without air tours, many of these travelers who come to Las Vegas solely to see the Grand Canyon would never have the opportunity to experience the grandeur of the Grand Canyon due to a disability or some other constraint which would prevent them from viewing the Grand Canyon and enjoying its splendor. Yet the air tour industry could be put out of business if an ill-advised provision of H.R. 1000 is passed. It would force the industry to meet impossible sound standards for no good environmental or esthetic reasons.
I urge the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) to join me in opposition to this provision so that travelers may continue to enjoy the Grand Canyon from the air, in addition to all the other wonders that my great district has to offer. And I want to thank the gentleman from Florida, and I will be glad to share with him any other thoughts that he would like me to on this issue.
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, one thing I think is important to note, the family value of the gentlewoman from Nevada's destination. I understand a lot of families now have great activities in Las Vegas and in Nevada that they can enjoy.
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, that is very true, and I grew up in Las Vegas. My family moved there 38 years ago, and I have two wonderful children that are also growing up in Las Vegas.
When I first moved to town, Las Vegas was a destination where many families did not think of coming. But today I can tell my colleague it is an entirely different environment. We have some of the most magnificent hotels in the world that cater to children, cater to families and have made our community family-friendly, and I can tell my colleague that when it comes to my children, my parents who also live in Las Vegas, when they take the grandchildren for an afternoon, most times they take them to the Las Vegas strip so they can enjoy the many attractions that are designed specifically for children and for families who come to my wonderful community.
Mr. FOLEY. I think that is why it is important today for Members to come out and describe their districts and describe some of the value that the tourism and travel industry plays in their hometown communities because, as the gentlewoman is suggesting, years ago it was known as a destination primarily for gaming, but now it is the site of international conventions dealing with some of the most important issues. It has become very family-friendly and is a great resource for all residents of Nevada who enjoy employment, enjoy economic growth and opportunity and activity.
So it is very appropriate that we signal and salute the variety of sectors of the Nation, if my colleague will, and the 435 districts that make up the great United States of America.
Ms. BERKLEY. Well, as my colleague knows, a very interesting statistic:
In 1900 the census showed that there were 30 residents in the Las Vegas Valley. Now we boast of 1.2 million. It has been a remarkable, remarkable growth area, and that is primarily because our area is for tourism, it is a destination resort area, and the tourism industry has played an incredible and indispensable role in making Las Vegas what it is today. And when we have 30 million visitors a year coming to Las Vegas to enjoy what we have to offer, we invite the rest of the country to come to Las Vegas and enjoy the wonderful scenery that we have, the magnificent hotels that we have. And as my colleague knows, if he comes to the Las Vegas strip he can see pyramids, he can see the City of Paris, he can see the City of Venice, he can see medieval castles and New York, New York, a replica of the City of New York, the City of New Orleans. It is just the most spectacular place.
And I will boast this: Our pyramids, our medieval castles, our City of Paris, our City of Venice, and New York, New York are better than the originals. So I invite my colleague to come out and see it for himself.
Mr. FOLEY. Well, I am indeed tempted to, and I will also tell my colleague she gained national prominence with the opening of the Beloagio, which has probably one of the great art collections that I understand being displayed for the benefit of art lovers as well.
Ms. BERKLEY. Well, if I can share something with my colleague for one half a minute more, Las Vegas has not been known as a cultural Mecca; however, with the addition of the Beloagio Art Museum I can tell him that it has added significantly to our culture. And my own children, who have studied art in school, we took them to the Beloagio Art Museum, and as soon as my children walked into the facility they were able to pick out Monets, Picassos, Renoirs, and they never would have had an opportunity to see these magnificent works of art up close and personal if not for the Beloagio bringing them to our fair city.
So I invite my colleague from Florida to come out and not only see all those other wonderful things, but see a wonderful art collection as well.
Mr. FOLEY. I thank the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) for joining us today in this special order, and I do want to in conclusion thank a variety of groups that have helped supply some of the critical data that we have shared today.
I want to go over it real quickly again so people understand the, if my colleague will, great economic import of the industries we talk about today:
The travel industry supports 7 million jobs contributing 127.8 billion in payroll expenditures.
The restaurant industry is the leading source of travel industry jobs in the United States.
Employment growth in the travel industry continues to outpace job growth in the overall economy.
During 1997 the industry produced more than 200,000 new tourism jobs.
The travel industry generates more than $70 billion in Federal, State and local tax revenue.
47.8 million foreign travelers visited the United States in 1997, spending $94.2 billion.
Last year visits from international travelers fell 1 percent. This drop represented 627,000 less travelers, 950 million in lost spending and 121 million in lost tax to Federal, State and local governments.
The reason I bring that up is the fact that the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), a Member of Congress who represents the areas of Pebble Beach, and I decided that as former, if my colleague will, employees of the travel and tourism sector, we felt it vitally important to make certain that we remain competitive, that we try and see how we can continue to grow the industry, if my colleague will, again for the sake of providing jobs and opportunity for Americans and for Floridians, as I represent Florida.
The National Restaurant Association and the Travel Industry Association of America and the Travel Business Round Table and other groups have contributed mightily to the presentation, if my colleague will, today, of the statistical data. In fact, it was the Travel Industry Association of America that worked in conjunction with the White House, the 1995 national strategy at the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, in order to determine exactly what the statistics are, because we want to be able to document for the record the significance of which travel and tourism relates to people's home districts.
And again we have enjoyed being able to present these facts for people as we once again celebrate Travel and Tourism Week, May 2 through the 8, and again I would remind the staff of Members of Congress that on Wednesday, May 5, it is Tourist Appreciation Day, and we will again have a reception in the Longworth cafeteria from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
And again I want to thank specifically the gentleman from California
(Mr. Farr), who has been a leading proponent and advocate of travel and tourism in his district. We are a bipartisan committee. We are an advocate for the travel and tourism industry. We are equally represented by Democrats and Republicans because we recognize that the growth of opportunity and the growth of jobs and the growth of a strong community depends on the many components and parts that make up this unique and great industry.
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