Tourism officials want bill to include program

A program to encourage global travelers to visit everywhere from Las Vegas resorts to California beaches could be tucked into the $825 billion economic stimulus bill unveiled Thursday in Congress.

Leaders of the Travel Industry Association, a trade group for the U.S. hospitality businesses, want lawmakers to include a provision to create a marketing program to tout the United States as a destination.

The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not have a coordinated, global marketing campaign to recruit foreign tourists.

The travel industry wants to change that by adding a $10 fee to the cost of certain tourist visas, then matching the funds raised with donations from private companies.

Supporters said a typical foreign visitor spends $4,000 on a U.S. trip, money that would come in handy in recession-ravaged communities.

"They don't use our health care system. They don't use our education system," Travel Industry Association spokesman Geoff Freeman said. "They spend their money, and they go home with a better impression of the country."

The proposed national marketing program was the subject of an earlier bill called the Travel Promotion Act. The bill had support but ran out of steam in the fall when Congress shifted its focus to the election and the rapidly deteriorating economy.

Attaching it to the stimulus proposal is an attempt to revive it.

"It is bringing new money into the country and, by almost all accounts, that makes sense in a stimulus package," Freeman said. "When there are vehicles moving that are germane to your issue, you use that vehicle as an opportunity."

But there are many in the House of Representatives, which already has crafted a draft bill, who probably would be wary of add-ons.

"We wanted to get the biggest bang for the buck of every dollar spent without having the package be so big it is weighed down," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Reuters news service.

A spokesman for Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the congresswoman thinks the program would be good for Nevada but said he was skeptical it would get into the stimulus plan.

Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was more optimistic.

Summers said Reid "is in discussions with President-elect (Barack) Obama's office about the possibility of including it in the economic recovery package."

As a senator, Obama was among co-sponsors of the Travel Promotion Act.

A spokesman for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Ensign supports the Travel Promotion Act but did not say whether it was worthy of inclusion in a stimulus package.

According to the travel industry, the visa fee and industry contributions combined could raise about $200 million annually for a global marketing campaign.

China spends $300 million and New Zealand $175 million annually marketing themselves to travelers.

The campaign wouldn't market individual destinations such as Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., or New York City. Instead, it would market the United States as a whole.

Even if the proposal doesn't make it into the stimulus bill, Freeman said, the group will continue to press the issue.

It is working to form a team of travel industry CEOs, which would include representation from Las Vegas, to work with Congress.

"The pharmaceutical company CEOs have a board meeting once a month in Washington," Freeman said. "We need to get the CEOs of this industry more engaged."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.