America is leaving travel-related jobs and revenues on the table because we’re not laying out the welcome mat for business travelers and tourists. We need to ensure that when tourists are ready to travel and business people are ready to make deals, they come to the greatest travel destination of them all—the United States of America.
Expanding travel and tourism can and should be a bipartisan priority, and it’s one the U.S. Chamber strongly supports.
Travel and tourism already accounts for $888 billion in revenues and 7.9 million American jobs. It could do so much more for our economy if we did a better job of laying out the welcome mat for international travelers. In fact, if we restored our share of the travel market to its 2000 level we could create more than 450,000 jobs by 2020.
We need to broaden visa waiver programs, limit wait times at customs, and implement trusted traveler programs to reduce the hassles without jeopardizing safety. We need to let the world know we want their business, and that means we need to make travel promotion a priority.
The Chamber is:
This letter was sent to members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in regard to H.R. 2997, the “21st Century AIRR Act."
It’s a reminder that Congress should remove all sanctions on the island nation.
These letters regarding the FY17 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill was sent to all Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, to all Members of the House Committee on Appropriations and to all Members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
This letter regarding the FY17 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill was sent to all Members of the House Committee on Appropriations.
This letter was sent to the members of the House Homeland Security Committee in support of H.R. 5253, the “Strong Visa Integrity Secures America Act of 2016,” which the Committee is marking up tomorrow afternoon.
This letter was sent to the members of the House Judiciary Committee expressing concerns with H.R. 5203, the “Visa Integrity & Security Act of 2016,” which the Committee is marking up this morning.
This letter regarding the markup of the FY17 Homeland Security Appropriations bill was sent to all Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
This letter was sent to Senators Leahy and Johnson in support of S. 2612, the “Promoting Travel, Commerce, and National Security Act of 2016,” which would clarify that any U.S. employee or contractor working in Canada at a preclearance facility who commits a crime may be tried in a U.S. court of law, as opposed to a Canadian court.
It is important that lawmakers not lose sight of this connection.
Attendees receive reminders of the industry’s rich history -- but with a look to the future.
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