The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRAVEL PROMOTION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S6758 on June 18, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAVEL PROMOTION ACT
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, the distinguished Senator from Tennessee is a great gentleman. He is a pleasure to work with.
The legislation that is on the Senate floor is the Travel Promotion Act. This is an important piece of legislation that will help our economy because it promotes travel to the United States, and it promotes travel to areas not traditionally visited which will highlight the United States as a premier travel destination. The bill initiates a nationally coordinated travel promotion campaign established in a public-private partnership to increase international travel to the United States. It also creates a corporation for travel promotion, an independent, nonprofit corporation, to run the travel promotion campaign. The program will be funded equally by a small fee paid by foreign travelers coming into the United States and by matching contributions from the travel industry.
It is interesting that the Department of Commerce announced that 3.8 million international visitors traveled to this country in March 2009, which was a decrease of 20 percent compared to March of 2008. Total visitation in the first quarter of 2009 was down 14 percent from the first quarter of 2008. International visitors spent almost $10 billion during the month of March, 16 percent less than they had a year ago. This March of 2009 marks the fifth consecutive month of decreases in international visitor spending. So the bill is going to go a long way to help reverse the declining trend.
I remember back in the 1980s, when I, as a Member of the House of Representatives, chaired the U.S. Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus. We had this little agency in the Department of Commerce that leveraged so much of the taxpayers' dollars by advertising overseas to get visitors to come here which brought spending to our shores. That is what we are trying to recreate here in the meantime and have been shut down. We are certainly cutting off our noses to spite our faces. This legislation clearly is something that is important to the country.
It is important to Florida because, of course, my State is one of the first destinations of foreign travelers coming to the United States. Despite obvious attractions such as Disney World, Florida beaches are ranked 1, 2, and 3, and No. 9 in a recent ranking of all beaches as the best beaches in the United States. Clearly, this is good for Florida. It is good for the United States. I hope we will get on with it and pass this legislation.
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