Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Industry and Analysis Grant Harris outlined the Biden administration's policies seeking to promote growth, dynamism and sustainability throughout the travel and tourism industry.
“A sustained, widespread recovery in the travel and tourism industry depends in part on our close work across the administration and with Congress, to support job creation and foster sustainable growth in communities across the country for years to come,” Harris said, according to a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.
Harris testified during a hearing with the Senate Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade and Export Promotion to support the DOC 2022 National Travel and Transportation Strategy.
The U.S. Department of Commerce released its National Travel and Tourism Strategy for 2022 on June 6. This strategy will seek to attract 90 million international visitors over the next five years. Projected domestic earnings were listed at $279 billion annually by 2027.
The Travel and Tourism Strategy has four key goals, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce fact sheet: encouraging travel to the U.S., facilitating trips throughout the U.S., seeking “diverse, inclusive and accessible” experiences for travelers and promoting sustainable travel practices.
During the hearing, witnesses analyzed the department’s strategy to strengthen the global competitiveness of the U.S.’s travel and tourism industry to make it more sustainable and resilient. The hearing was convened by Subcommittee Chair Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). Witnesses included Harris, Chair of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board William Hornbuckle and Vice Chair of U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board Brad Dean.
Rosen supported the DOC Travel and Tourism Strategy for 2022, according to her published remarks.
“Tourism and international travel grow our country’s national output of services and increase foreign currency earning -- as such, they are a service export,” Rosen said, according to the published remarks. “And the new strategy recognizes international travel as a top U.S. service export.”
Foreign demand generates export income for the U.S., Rosen said. International travelers improve the U.S. trade balance when they spend money in America, the same as when overseas buyers have products shipped from a U.S. manufacturer, she said.
Harris reiterated the Commerce Department’s four travel and tourism goals: encouraging travel, facilitating travel, promoting diverse and inclusive travel, and promoting sustainable travel. He said that to achieve those goals, Congress and the Commerce Department must promote a number of specific policy measures: advertising U.S. tourism opportunities; helping state and local governments fund, create, market and maintain a resilient tourism environment; speeding up the U.S. entry process; funding reliable public transportation; and reducing tourism-based carbon emissions.
