[Senate Hearing 117-861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                        S. Hrg. 117-861

                     REVIVING CONVENTIONS & TOURISM THROUGH 
                              INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                              BEFORE THE

                    SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, TRADE,
                          AND EXPORT PROMOTION

                                 OF THE

                         COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                      SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                              JUNE 7, 2022

                               __________

    Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation
                             
                             
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                             


                Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
                
                              __________

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
55-818 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2024                    
          
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       SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION


                   MARIA CANTWELL, Washington, Chair
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Ranking
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts         TED CRUZ, Texas
GARY PETERS, Michigan                DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             JERRY MORAN, Kansas
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois            DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
JON TESTER, Montana                  MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              TODD YOUNG, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  MIKE LEE, Utah
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia                 Virginia
                                     RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
                       Lila Helms, Staff Director
                 Melissa Porter, Deputy Staff Director
       George Greenwell, Policy Coordinator and Security Manager
                 John Keast, Republican Staff Director
            Crystal Tully, Republican Deputy Staff Director
                      Steven Wall, General Counsel
                                 ------                                

          SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, TRADE, AND EXPORT PROMOTION

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada, Chair           RICK SCOTT, Florida, Ranking
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois            MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
JON TESTER, Montana                  RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado              Virginia
                                     CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
                           
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hearing held on June 7, 2022.....................................     1
Statement of Senator Rosen.......................................     1
Statement of Senator Scott.......................................     3
Statement of Senator Blunt.......................................    17
Statement of Senator Klobuchar...................................    18
Statement of Senator Sullivan....................................    20
Statement of Senator Blackburn...................................    22
Statement of Senator Tester......................................    27

                               Witnesses

Suzanne Neufang, Chief Executive Officer, Global Business Travel 
  Association....................................................     4
    Prepared statement...........................................     6
Ralph Cutie, Director and CEO, Miami International Airport.......     8
    Prepared statement...........................................     9
Tori Emerson Barnes, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and 
  Policy, U.S. Travel............................................    11
    Prepared statement...........................................    13

                                Appendix

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema 
  to:
    Suzanne Neufang..............................................    33
    Ralph Cutie..................................................    34
    Tori Emerson Barnes..........................................    35

 
      REVIVING CONVENTIONS & TOURISM THROUGH INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022

                               U.S. Senate,
        Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export 
                                         Promotion,
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:02 p.m., in 
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Jacky Rosen, 
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Rosen [presiding], Klobuchar, Tester, 
Sinema, Scott, Blunt, Sullivan, and Blackburn.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA

    Senator Rosen. Good afternoon and welcome to the sixth 
hearing of the Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade and Export 
Promotion. Today's hearing, reviving conventions and tourism 
through international travel, will examine the state of 
international travel to the United States with a particular 
focus on how lower pandemic related international business 
travel volume is impacting conventions, trade shows, and the 
economies of States that rely on the travel and tourism 
industry.
    Travel and tourism drive job creation and economic growth 
in states across America, and especially in Nevada, where these 
industries and the workers they employ are essential to our 
state's prosperity. From the excitement and energy of the Las 
Vegas Strip to the beautiful outdoor recreation opportunities 
from Lake Mead to Lake Tahoe, the Great Basin National Park, 
and everything in between, people love to visit Nevada. Prior 
to the pandemic in 2019, about 55 million people visited the 
Silver State.
    That was a record number. In the Las Vegas area alone, 
direct visitor spending reached almost $37 billion, $37 
billion. It supported 242,500 workers in tourism, leisure, and 
hospitality industries, again up and down our state. But in 
addition to the leisure tourism, Nevada's economy also relies 
on business travelers who come to our state from across the 
country and around the world for conventions, trade shows, and 
conferences. Las Vegas, we are proud to say, is the convention 
capital of the world, hosting nearly 22,000 meetings, 
conventions, exhibitions, and events each year.
    According to the Trade Show News Network, we have been 
named the number one trade show destination in North America 
for 25 straight years. And our reach is global, with the World 
Trade Center Association noting that well over 230 countries 
are represented at trade shows held in Las Vegas. One need to 
look no further than CES, the most influential tech event in 
the world to see our international impact. The COVID related 
international travel slowdown has therefore meant job losses 
throughout Nevada, at our amazing hotels and casinos, in our 
world class convention halls, and at our airports.
    It has also devastated many of our restaurants, retailers, 
and our live entertainment venues. To be sure, there have been 
signs of significant progress. International travel, it is 
ticking up. And just last week, the Labor Department jobs 
report shows that leisure and hospitality added 86,000 jobs 
nationwide in May, the most of any industry. But according to 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are still over a million 
pre-pandemic jobs in the sector that have not yet returned.
    Over 1 million jobs gone--it is gone. That is nearly three-
quarters of the total worker shortfall in the United States. 
That is because while domestic leisure travel has rebounded, 
international travel, particularly business travel to 
conventions, is not yet at pre-pandemic levels. We need a 
coordinated, comprehensive approach to deal with this 
challenge, not only to complete the economic recovery from the 
pandemic, but also to help international business travel to 
U.S. conventions and trade shows, well, we want to help them 
just thrive in the future.
    This is why Ranking Member Wicker and I, along with Ranking 
Member Scott and Senators Klobuchar, Sullivan, Cortez Masto, 
and Blunt, as well as others, worked together to develop the 
Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. We like to call it the tour-
bus. This bill would for the first time create an Assistant 
Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, allowing the 
Federal Government to take a more coordinated approach to 
supporting international travel in the United States.
    I know there are more ideas out there on how we can boost 
international travel generally and to conventions specifically. 
That is why I am so glad we have an excellent panel of 
witnesses here today, both virtually and in person, to share 
their expertise, to provide insight and recommendations for the 
best paths forward and take questions from members of the 
Subcommittee.
    Witnesses will discuss the challenges posed by depressed 
international travel and why bringing back those international 
travelers, not just to Nevada, but also to the rest of the 
country, well, it is just so critical for conventions, like we 
said, trade shows, our overall travel and tourism economy.
    So for today's hearing, we have representation from the 
Global Business Traveler Association, which represents the 
business travel industry, Miami International Airport, the 
largest travel gateway between the U.S. and Latin America, and 
the U.S. Travel Association, which is the national nonprofit 
organization representing and advocating for all components of 
the travel industry.
    It is my hope that today's hearing will help us to better 
understand how we can continue to encourage international 
travel to U.S. conventions and bring back those 1 million jobs 
that we have lost. So now I am going to turn it over to Ranking 
Member Scott for his opening statement and then introduce our 
witnesses so they can provide testimony to the panel. Senator 
Scott.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. RICK SCOTT, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

    Senator Scott. I want to thank Chair Rosen for hosting this 
hearing today, and I thank her for her commitment to getting 
tourism going in our country again. We both come from states 
that tourism is a big driver of our economies, but it is a big 
driver of economies all across the country. I thank all of our 
witnesses for being with us and sharing their perspectives. 
While Americans are working hard to recover from COVID-19, our 
Nation's travel and tourism industries are vitally important to 
the American economy, and that is on full display in Florida 
right now.
    We, like the Chair stated, are tourism states. We are home 
to the best travel destinations in the world. I think both of 
us would brag about that. And we are a vital gateway to Latin 
and South America, with Miami International Airport right now 
being the busiest international airport in the United States 
and in the Americas. These tourists are critical to supporting 
our small businesses, fueling job growth, and helping increase 
our State's investments into the environment, transportation, 
public safety, and education.
    The tourism in our state, and I am sure the same way in 
Nevada, pays for a lot of the things we get to do in our State, 
such as the environment and transportation, public safety, 
education. As the world continues to open its doors in the wake 
of the pandemic, people will be looking to travel and return to 
business as usual. In several months ahead, international 
travel will be vitally important.
    People all over the world desperately want to travel after 
2 years of restrictions of being at home, and they want to come 
to the United States. The airports in Florida have told me that 
they are expecting record numbers of passengers who want to 
come to Florida to experience our beautiful beaches, our 
wildlife, our attractions, and much more. As leisure travel has 
rebounded, we hope to see business travel return as well, 
especially with the return of in-person conventions around the 
country. I think our two States are the biggest places for 
conventions.
    However, there are some jurisdictions holding us back and 
holding back the full return of international business travel. 
While we are very glad to see the mask restrictions end, there 
still remains pre-departure COVID testing requirements for 
fully vaccinated inbound international travelers.
    Many Florida families and small businesses rely on 
international travelers for their livelihood. We need to do 
everything we can to keep these businesses open, amending 
international travel restrictions as necessary, and get people 
back to work so that businesses can reliably staff their 
operations. I am proud of this subcommittee, and I am proud 
that we have been active during this time.
    I am proud of the leadership of Chair Rosen. We have heard 
from industry leaders, small businesses, employees to better 
understand how Congress can be helpful and when we need to get 
the Federal Government out of the way. While we have seen the 
full Commerce Committee approve a number of our bills aimed at 
safely reopening our travel and tourism industry, most notably 
this subcommittee put together the--what do you call the----
    Senator Rosen. The tour bus, the omnibus----
    Senator Scott. The tour bus, the Omnibus Travel and Tourism 
Act, which was a collection of bipartisan bills to study the 
impacts of COVID on the travel industry and tourism industry 
and promote travel to the U.S. I was pleased to see this 
legislation approved by the full committee last year. I am 
confident that domestic and international travel will return to 
normal, and businesses of all sizes across the country will 
thrive.
    We must find ways to facilitate the full return of 
international travel and get people back to work so we can 
properly host our international travelers. We will continue to 
work here in this committee to do everything we can to protect 
families and small businesses and get our travel and tourism 
industries back stronger than ever. I look forward to hearing 
from our witnesses who will give us firsthand their insights 
into how Congress could be helpful in achieving these goals.
    Thank you--I want to thank each of you for being here. I do 
want to introduce a Floridian. I want to welcome Ralph Cutie to 
the Subcommittee. He is the Director and CEO of the Miami-Dade 
Aviation Department, which includes Miami International 
Airport. He has got over 30 years of experience in the 
transportation and aviation industry and is a lifelong 
Floridian. We look forward to yours and other witnesses 
testimony today. And at the end, we will both brag about which 
of our states is the best travel destination in the world.
    Senator Rosen. Come to both states.
    Senator Scott. Yes.
    Senator Rosen. Come to both. You don't have to choose--
[technical problems]--thank you, Senator Scott. We are going to 
hear from him in just a moment. But right now, I would like to 
introduce our first witness who is here with us in person 
today, Ms. Suzanne Neufang. Ms. Neufang is CEO of the Global 
Business Travel Association, or GBTA. It is the country's 
premier Business Travel and Meetings Trade Organization.
    So prior to leading GBTA, Ms. Neufang held several senior 
leadership roles at travel and technology companies. She has 
been an active member of GBTA since 2005 and led the 
Association of Corporate Travel Executives in various 
capacities between 2012 and 2018. Ms. Neufang, thank you so 
much for being with us today and for testifying before our 
subcommittee.
    This is the second time you have been here, so I really 
appreciate that. And you are now recognized for your opening 
remarks.

 STATEMENT OF SUZANNE NEUFANG, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GLOBAL 
                  BUSINESS TRAVEL ASSOCIATION

    Ms. Neufang. Thank you. Chainman--Chairwoman Rosen, and 
Ranking Member Scott, and members of the Subcommittee. My name 
is Suzanne Neufang. I am CEO of the Global Business Travel 
Association, or GBTA. It is my pleasure to again address this 
committee, this time in person, on behalf of the business 
travel industry. As the world's premier business travel trading 
organization, the return of events, conferences, and 
conventions is central to the industry's recovery.
    GBTA serves a global network of more than 28,000 corporate 
travel professionals and 125,000 constituents within our 
industry. We are headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area 
with global operations, as well as 37 local chapters across the 
U.S. Our mission is to foster connections around the world 
through work related travel to enable businesses and economies 
to grow.
    The onset of COVID-19 stopped global business travel in its 
tracks. It caused the $1.4 trillion industry to decline by 54 
percent, and post losses of $770 billion in business travel 
spend. According to our latest Business Travel Index, global 
expenditures rebounded in 2021 by 14 percent to $754 billion 
and will continue to rise in 2022 to over $1 trillion. Over the 
past months, there have been positive signs of recovery. Our 
April Business Travel Recovery Poll found 90 percent of U.S. 
based respondents report their company now allows non-essential 
domestic business travel, which is a 13 percent point increase 
since January.
    International travel, however, has been slower to recover, 
and only 74 percent reported that their companies currently 
allow non-essential international business travel. This is due 
to barriers that still block the robust return of international 
travel to and from the U.S. Today, most countries that the U.S. 
considers contemporaries and are also the largest business 
travel origins and destinations including the U.K., Canada, 
Germany, and France, have waived COVID testing requirements for 
entry.
    Yet the U.S. still requires all air passengers to be tested 
1 day prior to entry or show proof of recovery within 90 days. 
In a January GBTA survey, 43 percent of respondents said the 
single greatest barrier to resuming business travel is 
Government policies that restrict travel or make it difficult.
    The testing requirement is impacting people's willingness 
to travel and puts the U.S. at risk of falling behind other 
countries as a travel and business meetings destination. Those 
meetings get planned months or even years in advance, putting 
the U.S. at great disadvantage.
    At GBTA, we know firsthand the challenges of getting back 
to pre-pandemic attendance levels for conferences, which in 
2019 made up nearly 20 percent of all business travel budgets. 
In 2019, we welcomed over 7,100 attendees from 80 countries to 
Chicago for our annual convention. Due to COVID, our next 
convention had to wait until November 2021, when 3,500 attended 
in Orlando from just 20 countries.
    At the time, many international attendees and exhibitors 
didn't attend due to COVID or uncertainty about U.S. entry 
policies. Our 2022 convention takes place mid-August in San 
Diego, and although pandemic inbound travel restrictions have 
been lifted across most countries in the world, in the U.S. 
that is not the case. We are thus conservatively forecasting a 
70 percent return in attendee volume versus 2019.
    While we are pleased with current registration rates for 
August, they are predictably lagging the 2019 normal pace, and 
only 10 percent of currently registered attendees are from 
outside the U.S. Two weeks ago in Europe, I heard directly from 
constituents about the main barriers they see to attending 
conferences in the U.S.
    The same question arose in every conversation, when will 
the U.S. testing requirement go away? They want to visit the 
U.S., but the ongoing in-bound testing requirement is a huge 
barrier to attending meetings here. International conference 
travelers create an economic halo on local tourism. You might 
hear this referred to as blended travel, when a traveler comes 
for business and adds a few extra days for leisure. Recent GBTA 
research finds that 75 to 82 percent of respondents are as, or 
much more likely now to combine their business trips with a 
vacation.
    We have made progress post-pandemic and cannot afford to go 
backward. Business travel is not just a transaction. We must 
continue to keep our borders open, lessen restrictions, enable 
pent up business travel demand, and continue to get business 
companies, diplomacy, and economies moving again.
    People need to connect face to face, and it is important 
that Government and business work together. We need healthy 
conferences and conventions back as economic and business 
development drivers. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Neufang follows:]

    Prepared Statement of Suzanne Neufang, Chief Executive Officer, 
                   Global Business Travel Association
    Chairwoman Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, and Members of the 
Subcommittee: my name is Suzanne Neufang, and I am Chief Executive 
Officer of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). Thank you for 
the opportunity to testify regarding the state of reviving 
international travel to the U.S. for trade shows, conventions, and 
state and local economies that are heavily reliant on travel and 
tourism.
    It is my pleasure to again address this Committee on behalf of the 
business travel industry to share insights on the challenges and 
opportunities in navigating its continued recovery. As the world's 
premier business travel and meetings trade organization, the return of 
events, conferences and conventions are central to the industry's 
return and an area of ongoing focus for GBTA.
    GBTA serves a global network of more than 28,000 corporate travel 
professionals and 125,000 active constituents within our industry. We 
are headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with global operations 
as well as 37 local chapters across the U.S. Our mission is to foster 
connections among people around the world through work-related travel 
to enable businesses, economies and democracies to grow.
    The onset of COVID-19 stopped global business travel in its 
tracks--it caused the $1.4 trillion industry to decline by 53.8 percent 
and post losses of $737 billion USD in business travel spend. According 
to GBTA's latest Business Travel Index, global expenditures are 
forecast to have rebounded 14 percent to $754 billion for 2021 and 
continue to rise in 2022 to bring business travel spending back to over 
$1 trillion.
    Over the past few months, we've seen increased evidence of positive 
signs of recovery. Our April 2022 GBTA Business Travel Recovery poll 
found 90 percent of U.S.-based respondents report their company now 
allows non-essential domestic business travel, a 13-percentage point 
increase since January. International travel, however, has still been 
slower to recover--only 74 percent reported that their company 
currently allows non-essential international business travel. This can 
be attributed to the barriers remaining that are blocking the robust 
return of international travel, trade shows and conferences in the U.S.
    Today, most countries that the U.S. considers contemporaries which 
are also the largest business travel origins and destinations--such as 
the UK, Canada, Germany, and France--have waived testing requirements 
for entry for vaccinated travelers. Yet, the U.S. still requires all 
travelers to be tested one day prior to entering the country or show 
proof of recovery within 90 days.
    In a January GBTA survey, 43 percent of respondents said the single 
greatest barrier to resuming business travel is government policies 
that restrict travel or make it difficult. The testing requirement is 
impacting people's willingness to travel and puts the U.S. at risk of 
falling behind other countries as a travel and business meetings 
destination. It is because these meetings often get planned months and 
even a year or two in advance--that now the U.S. is at a great 
disadvantage.
    For those needing to depart the U.S. for work travel, many are 
unwilling to take the chance of not being able to return to the U.S. at 
the end of their business trip or vacation. For those of us who do 
travel internationally, we know personally what a burden the test 
creates and the additional stress throughout the trip awaiting that 
final test result to ``allow'' us to go home.
    This is depressing inbound international travel and is also hurting 
the U.S. conference industry. According to GBTA research, in 2019 
companies reported 18 percent of their travel spend was allocated for 
conferences, trade shows and industry events.
    At GBTA, we know firsthand the challenges of getting back to pre-
pandemic attendance levels for events.
    In our peak year of 2019, we welcomed over 7,100 attendees from 80 
countries to Chicago for our annual GBTA Convention. Due to COVID-19, 
we didn't host our next GBTA Convention until November 2021 where we 
attracted 3,500 attendees to Orlando from just 20 countries. At the 
time, a sizable number of attendees and exhibitors from outside the 
U.S. were still unable or unwilling to attend due to COVID and 
uncertainty about U.S. entry policies. Recall as well that the U.S. 
didn't open for non-resident in-bound travel until the beginning of 
November 2021.
    For 2022, the GBTA Convention will take place August 14-17 in San 
Diego. And although many pandemic in-bound travel restrictions have 
been lifted across most countries in the world, we are still 
conservatively forecasting a 70 percent return in attendee volume 
versus our 2019 levels. While we are pleased with current registration 
rates for August, they are predictably lagging, compared to 2019 
``normal'' measures--and only 10 percent of currently registered 
attendees are from outside the U.S. Much of the gap to getting back to 
``normal'' is the continued hesitancy from non-U.S. based attendees and 
exhibitors to commit to travel to the U.S.
    As recently as two weeks ago, I heard directly from our 
constituents about the main barrier they see for attending conferences 
and events in the U.S., but also for travel to the U.S. in general. 
While I was traveling in Europe for business, in every discussion--from 
our GBTA partners to meetings with European policy makers--the same 
question came up: ``When will the U.S. testing requirement go away?!'' 
The Europeans with whom I spoke all wanted to visit for work--and 
play--and the ongoing U.S. inbound testing requirement is a huge 
barrier for groups planning meetings and conferences, or families 
wanting to plan a U.S. vacation.
    It's at these in-person events that we connect, learn, collaborate, 
and conduct business in purposeful ways and for profitable outcomes 
that can never be accomplished through virtual meetings. In addition, 
people traveling to the U.S. to attend trade shows and conferences 
create an important economic halo on local tourism. You might hear this 
referred to as ``bleisure'' or workcations--and at GBTA, we call it 
blended travel. But more simply put--it's when a traveler comes for 
business and adds a few extra days for leisure or family time. Recent 
GBTA research finds 75 percent of respondents said as business travel 
resumes, they are as likely or much more likely to combine their 
business trips with a vacation. This adds an additional boost to local 
economies and provides exposure and interest for future return 
vacations to the region.
    It is vital to recovery that we continue to show that America is 
open for business. And business travel recovery is also facing other 
headwinds including rising inflation, staffing shortages and supply 
chain delays. Therefore, it is clear that we must remove the asymmetric 
barriers that remain such as inbound testing and create a safe and easy 
path forward for international businesspeople to return to attending 
tradeshows and conventions in the U.S.
    We've made progress in returning to life and business and cannot 
afford to go backwards. Business travel is not just a transaction--it's 
about making and strengthening connections, growing businesses, 
economies, diplomacy, and careers. We must continue to keep our borders 
open, lessen restrictions, enable pent-up business travel demand, and 
continue to get business, companies and economies moving again. People 
need to connect face to face, and it is so important that government 
and business work together to achieve this. We need healthy conferences 
and conventions back as economic and business development drivers.

    Senator Rosen. [Technical problems]--on there. Thank you so 
much. I know that Senator Scott talked a little bit about how 
terrific Ralph Cutie is, is a Director and CEO of Miami 
International Airport. I will give a little bit more of an 
intro before his testimony. He oversees operations at Miami 
International Airport, four general aviation airports in the 
Miami area.
    They generate almost $32 billion in business revenue, 
supporting more than 275,000 direct and indirect jobs. And 
according to Senator Scott, now, you are the busiest airport in 
the country and always have been very busy and you have moved 
up to that top slot. So, Mr. Cutie, please, you are recognized 
now for your remarks.

          STATEMENT OF RALPH CUTIE, DIRECTOR AND CEO, 
                  MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

    Mr. Cutie. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Chairwoman 
Rosen, and Ranking Member Scott, and distinguished members of 
the Subcommittee. And thank you for inviting me to testify 
before you today, along with this distinguished panel of travel 
and tourism professionals. My name is Ralph Cutie.
    I am the Director and CEO in Miami Dade Aviation 
Department, which includes Miami International Airport, or MIA, 
and four general aviation airports. As the Senator mentioned, 
yes, we are currently the number one airport in the United 
States for international passengers. And we boast a lineup of 
approximately 96 air carriers, including 61 international 
carriers. MIA is also the number one airport in the United 
States and the number nine airport in the world in 
international freight.
    So we are also a leading airport in cargo. To underscore 
what the previous witness said, back in 2019, we set a record 
by handling more than 47 million passengers through MIA in 
2019. That number, as a result of COVID, dwindled to a little 
bit over 18 million in 2020 and rebounded significantly in 
2021, with approximately 37.2 million passengers moved.
    Obviously, as I mentioned before, MIA is responsible for 
approximately $32 billion in business revenue, economic impact, 
nearly 300,000 jobs in both direct and indirect, and 60 percent 
of all the visitors, of all the international visitors to the 
State of Florida.
    So numbers wise, we are doing very well. However, as 
mentioned previously, we have some restrictions that could--
that, if lifted, could assist us in doing even better. Some 
statistics from 2019. Back in 2019, more than 79 million 
international visitors were welcomed to the U.S., and they 
spent approximately $239 billion at our local hotels, 
restaurants, and attractions.
    In South Florida alone, the Greater Miami and Miami Beach 
tourism industry has rebounded exceptionally well, and that is 
directly and indirectly in part to the robust recovery that we 
have experienced here at MIA, and that our airport and aviation 
partners have experienced also.
    According to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors 
Bureau, back in 2021, the Greater Miami area welcomed more than 
24 million visitors to the area, and those visitors spent 
approximately $19.2 billion in funds to the area, which was an 
8 percent increase over our 2019 numbers.
    Obviously, during the pandemic recovery, domestic visitors 
made up a large part of our deficit as a result of COVID, as a 
result of the lack of visitors from Europe and Canada. But 
Latin America and the Caribbean, those markets still a sizable 
hole in international visitation. And while travel bans in some 
other regions continued, there were very few bans in the 
Caribbean, Central, and South America, and collectively those 
markets made up the bulk of our international visitation.
    So some statistics I would like to go over based on 
industry surveys to kind of, to underscore the impact of the 
current pre-departure testing requirements that we are 
currently under. More than 47 percent of passengers surveyed, 
vaccinated passengers, have indicated that they would be 
unlikely to travel to a destination that continues to require 
these pre-departure testing requirements.
    Seventy-one percent of travelers are currently prioritizing 
destinations that don't have any pre-departure testing 
requirements and place those--and consider those requirements 
as onerous when it comes to them planning their travel, both 
business and in leisure travel. Statistics also indicate, as 
indicated previously, that business travel and spending, it 
remains about 56 percent below 2019 levels.
    Airlines for America recently conducted a survey that 
indicated that an additional $3.8 billion in annual spending 
would be experienced if that--if the pre-departure testing 
requirements would be lifted, along with an additional 31,000 
in incremental jobs that would result, as a result of the 
lifting of those requirements. So, some other issues regarding 
pre-departure testing.
    Recent surveys have indicated from the Customs and Border 
Protection Organization that three times as many individuals 
came to the U.S. via land travel, what we call land borders, 
versus international air passengers into the U.S. So obviously, 
the land borders do not have to undergo COVID testing, and the 
air travelers do. It kind of highlights the futility of that 
testing requirement right now.
    We are also behind, the United States is behind 
approximately 44 countries that are no longer requiring these 
pre-departure testing requirements, some of which Argentina, 
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Spain, 
Ireland, to name but a few.
    So as far as recommendations, to close out my testimony, I 
think MIA supports the current 2022 letter to the White House 
COVID Response Coordinator, which includes recommendations 
regarding lifting the pre-departure testing requirements for 
all fully vaccinated inbound international arrivals, working 
with other countries to normalize travel conditions and entry 
requirements, and also sending a clear message to the American 
public and the world traveling public that it is safe to travel 
again and especially safe to travel into the United States, 
internationally.
    And with that, I thank you again, Chairman Rosen, Senator 
Scott, for the opportunity to testify, and I would be glad to 
answer questions when the time is right.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Cutie follows:]

    Prepared Statement of Ralph Cutie, Director and Chief Executive 
                  Officer, Miami International Airport
    Good afternoon Chairwoman Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, and 
distinguished members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to 
testify before you today along with this distinguished panel of travel 
and tourism professionals on this very important issue.
    My name is Ralph Cutie, and I am the Director and Chief Executive 
Officer for the Miami-Dade County Aviation System which includes Miami 
International Airport (MIA), Miami-Opa Locka General Aviation Airport 
(OPF), Miami Executive General Aviation Airport (TMB), Homestead 
General Aviation Airport (X51), and the Training and Transition Airport 
(TNT).
Background
    MIA is operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department and is the 
property of Miami-Dade County government. MIA offers more flights to 
Latin America and the Caribbean than any other U.S. airport and is 
America's busiest airport for international passengers. MIA boasts a 
lineup of 96 air carriers including 61 international carriers. MIA is 
also the top U.S. airport for international freight. Prior to the 
COVID-19 pandemic, MIA handled over 47 million passengers. MIA is also 
the leading economic engine for Miami-Dade County and the state of 
Florida, generating business revenue of $31.9 billion annually 
and approximately 60 percent of all international visitors to 
Florida. MIA's vision is to grow from a recognized hemispheric hub to a 
global airport of choice that offers customers a world-class experience 
and an expanded route network with direct passenger and cargo access to 
all world regions.
    COVID-19 put an immediate halt to our vision. From a record setting 
47 million passengers in 2019, MIA experienced empty terminals and 
empty aircrafts. If not for the financial assistance provided by 
Congress, MIA along with every other airport in this country would not 
have been in the position to restart our industry.
    Chairwomen Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, thank you for calling this 
hearing today. International travel is critical to the economic 
recovery of Miami-Dade County, Florida, and our great Country. As 
evidence to that importance, in 2019, the U.S. welcomed 79 million 
international visitors who spent $239 billion at local hotels, 
restaurants, attractions, and other travel businesses--leading 
international travel to be the U.S.' largest service export category.
    In South Florida, the Greater Miami and Miami Beach tourism 
industry has rebounded exceptionally well from the COVID-19 pandemic 
thanks in part to the robust recovery of Miami International Airport 
and our airport and aviation partners.
    According to published data provided by the Greater Miami 
Convention and Visitors Bureau, in 2021, 15.9 million overnight 
visitors and an additional 8.3-million-day visitors totaling 24.2 
million came to the area, which essentially matched the total volume of 
tourists seen in 2019. Furthermore, visitor spending rebounded, and 
tourists spent an estimated $19.2 billion, an increase of 8 percent 
over 2019. Domestic visitation made up much of the overall deficit 
created by a lack of visitors from Europe and Canada, but Latin 
American markets filled in a sizable gap in international visitation. 
While travel bans continued to be in place in many regions across the 
globe, relatively few existed in the Caribbean, Central and South 
America. Collectively, these markets made up the bulk of international 
visitation
Recommendations for Continued Recovery
    So as the travel and tourism industry continue to recover, what is 
the main take-away from all this data, especially as it relates to 
international travel? Despite declining hospitalizations and 
infections, increased vaccination rates and a more robust public health 
system which is now better prepared to manage this or future viruses, 
many pandemic-driven Federal policies are still in place. It is 
critical that we replace pandemic-era travel restrictions with endemic-
focused policies that will enable travel to resume fully and freely.
    MIA supports the following recommendations contained in a May 2022 
industry letter to White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator and 
indorsed by over 260 travel and tourism organizations:

   Immediately remove the pre-departure testing requirement for 
        all fully vaccinated inbound international arrivals.

   Ensure the Federal mask mandate for public transportation 
        remains lifted.

   End ``avoid travel'' advisories and the use of travel bans.

   Work with other countries to normalize travel conditions and 
        entry requirements.

   Develop benchmarks and timelines for a pathway to the new 
        normal that repeals pandemic focused travel restrictions.

   Send a clear message to the American public and the world 
        that it is safe to travel again, particularly for vaccinated 
        individuals.

   Work with Congress and the administration to modernize 
        visitor visa processing.
Closing
    Chairwoman Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for your continued support and engagement on 
these efforts and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you 
today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

    Senator Rosen. Thank you so much, Mr. Cutie. I would like 
to now introduce another witness with us here remotely, Tori 
Barnes. Ms. Barnes leads the U.S. Travel Association's 
Government Relations, Policy Development, Communications, 
Marketing, and Research teams.
    Ms. Barnes, thank you for always providing insightful 
testimony to our subcommittee. We are so glad to have you back 
before us today, and I will now recognize you for your opening 
remarks.

  STATEMENT OF TORI EMERSON BARNES, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, 
             PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND POLICY, U.S. TRAVEL

    Ms. Barnes. Thank you, Subcommittee Chair Rosen, Ranking 
Member Scott, full Committee Chair Cantwell, and Ranking Member 
Wicker, and members of the Subcommittee. Good afternoon.
    Thank you for holding this important hearing, which 
examines one of the most difficult challenges facing our 
economy, restoring international business and leisure travel. 
Prior to the pandemic, international travel to the U.S. 
generated $239 billion in spending and supported more than 1 
million American jobs.
    In fact, international travel ranked as our Nation's second 
largest industry export, and visitation for tradeshows, 
conventions, and large events played a significant role. For 
example, I am testifying today from Orlando, Florida, where the 
U.S. Travel Association is hosting its annual international 
trade show IPW.
    Our trade show brings in thousands of international buyers 
from around the world to purchase travel products and services 
from American destinations and businesses. This trade show 
alone generates an estimated $28 billion in export spending in 
the United States, which is equivalent to exporting 69 Boeing--
69 Boeing 747s, 700 GE 9X engines, or nearly 58,000 John Deere 
combines.
    Yet the value that international visitor spending provides 
to local communities, businesses, and American workers is often 
underappreciated and misunderstood. While the Federal 
Government devotes a great deal of resources to the export of 
agriculture, cars, heavy machinery, and American made goods, 
the same emphasis is not placed on international travel. This 
must change in order for our economy to recover from the 
pandemic, in order to restore American jobs, and in order for 
our Nation to be more globally competitive.
    That is why it is crucial for Congress and the 
Administration to tackle both the immediate and long term 
issues that are crippling the industry's recovery and future 
growth. In the short term, the Administration must immediately 
end the inbound COVID-19 testing requirements for vaccinated 
and international travelers.
    According to a recent Morning Consult survey, 54 percent of 
international travelers said that the pre-departure testing 
requirement made them less likely to visit the United States. 
Each month this testing requirement remains in place, we lose 
the opportunity for an additional $40 billion in travel 
spending, which is enough to support 40,000 American jobs. We 
know the testing requirement can be safely removed without 
impacting public health.
    More than 40 nations have recently removed their testing 
requirements, including Canada, Mexico, the UK, Italy, Spain, 
France, Germany, and many others. More than 600 million 
vaccinations have been administered, and nearly two-thirds of 
the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. Nearly all other 
aspects of the economy have reopened without testing, yet the 
requirement for vaccinated international travelers remains in 
place. It is time for the Administration to follow the science 
and the rest of the world and remove this requirement.
    I would like to thank Chair Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, 
Member Chairman--Ranking Member Wicker and Senator Cortez Masto 
in particular, and other members of the committee for sending 
letters to the Administration on this important issue. Another 
short term challenge that must be addressed is reducing the 
visa backlog. Across the top ten inbound markets that require a 
visitor visa for entry to the U.S., average wait times for an 
appointment now exceed 400 days. That is more than one year.
    Wait times of more than a year are effective border 
closures to most of the world. In fact, in 2019, 43 percent of 
the 79 million international visitors required a tourist or 
business travel visa. And that is why we are asking Congress to 
provide supplemental funding for consular affairs for staffing, 
direct the State Department to use video conferencing 
technology to increase throughput, authorize the Department of 
State to waive in-person interviews for low risk travelers, and 
direct the State Department to give large travel groups the 
option to have their visas processed together.
    These are common sense ways to significantly reduce visa 
interview wait times and would make the process more manageable 
for both the State Department and travelers. Congress also has 
the opportunity to bolster Federal leadership on international 
travel facilitation and enacting the Travel and Tourism Omnibus 
Act which would be tremendously beneficial.
    Among other provisions, the bill establishes an Assistant 
Secretary of Travel and Tourism at the Department of Congress 
to develop and implement national travel policies and 
strategies, as well as work with the International Trade 
Administration to facilitate U.S. bids for international 
exhibitions, conferences, and events.
    Since travel touches so many areas of the Government, from 
DHS to TSA and CBP, the State Department, DOT, FAA, and more, a 
senior Federal official dedicated solely to tourism is needed 
to more effectively coordinate policies across the Government. 
It is also important to note that the U.S. is the only G20 
country without a Federal agency or cabinet level official in 
charge of tourism policy.
    And with again, travel serving the second--travel serving 
as the second largest industry export pre-pandemic, we think it 
is imperative to give our issues the same kind of undivided 
attention that other important industries like agriculture 
receive.
    They say the rising tide lifts all boats, so the more that 
we can do to lift up these two sagging parts of the industry, 
domestic business travel and international inbound travel, the 
more workers, businesses, communities we can lift up out of 
financial distress.
    And that is something I know that we all support. Thank you 
for your time, and I am happy to answer any questions that the 
committee may have.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Barnes follows:]

 Prepared Statement of Tori Emerson Barnes, Executive Vice President, 
           Public Affairs and Policy, U.S. Travel Association
    Subcommittee Chair Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, Chair Cantwell, 
Ranking Member Wicker, and members of the subcommittee, good afternoon.
    I'm Tori Emerson Barnes, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs 
and Policy for the U.S. Travel Association. Thank you for holding this 
important hearing, which examines one of the most difficult challenges 
facing the travel industry: the revival of international business and 
leisure travel, and how the Federal government can eliminate barriers 
to economic recovery.
    Before I start, I'd like to thank the members of this subcommittee 
as well as the full committee for their leadership on the Omnibus 
Travel and Tourism Act, particularly Chair Rosen, Ranking Member Scott, 
Ranking Member Wicker, and Senators Klobuchar, Blunt, Sullivan, Sinema, 
King, and Cortez Masto. The Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act--also known 
as the TourBus bill--would significantly improve the way the government 
facilitates travel exports. We look forward to its swift enactment, 
hopefully this year.
Importance of Travel Exports
    As you know, exports are a key driver of economic growth and are 
one of the ways we became the world's greatest economic power. Prior to 
the pandemic, international travel to the U.S. was our Nation's second 
largest industry export overall.
    While the Federal government devotes a great deal of resources to 
the export of agriculture, cars, heavy machinery and other American-
made goods, the same emphasis is not placed on international travel. In 
fact, there is often an underappreciation of the value that 
international travel exports provide to local communities, workers, and 
the broader economy.
    For example, this week I'm in Orlando, Florida, for U.S. Travel's 
annual IPW trade show, which brings together thousands of international 
travel buyers with American destinations and travel companies to sell 
future travel bookings to the U.S. Past IPWs have generated an 
estimated $28.9 billion in export spending in the U.S., which is 
equivalent to exporting 69 Boeing 747s, 700 GE9X engines or nearly 
58,000 John Deere Combines. This demonstrates international travel's 
substantial economic power and shows why it should be prioritized 
alongside other top U.S. exports.
    To put it simply, every time a foreign visitor spends money on a 
meal, hotel room, or rental car in the U.S.--that purchase is just as 
much an export as if we took that meal, hotel room, or rental car, 
boxed it up and sent it to another country. Not only that, but 
international business travel adds another dimension to this story, 
benefitting other sectors of the economy by facilitating new business 
relationships, sales opportunities, or the kinds of in-person exchanges 
that can lead to scientific, technological or professional 
breakthroughs.
    Certainly, Nevada and Florida are no stranger to the economic power 
of international conferences, exhibitions and events, but this scenario 
plays out throughout the country in cities small and large.
    Prior to the pandemic, international travel spending generated $239 
billion in exports, which created a $53 billion trade surplus. 
Unfortunately, the pandemic led to a loss of $315 billion in travel 
exports in 2020 and 2021.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.ustravel.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/ust-data-
master.pdf
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    I wish I could say everything is back to normal now, but we're 
still not where we need to be. By the end of 2021, international 
inbound travel spending was still down 78 percent and spending on 
meetings and events was down 70 percent. But even when we get back to 
full strength, that doesn't make up for the last two years of losses or 
our new trajectory of stunted growth. Perhaps most concerning, we find 
ourselves much farther behind other nations that have lifted COVID-era 
travel restrictions and prioritized the return of international 
visitors.
    That's why we think it's crucial for Congress and the 
administration to tackle both the immediate and long-term issues that 
are crippling the industry's recovery and future growth potential.
Pre-departure Testing
    In the short term, the administration must end the pre-departure 
COVID-19 testing requirement for vaccinated international travelers, 
which is depressing a significant amount of travel to the U.S. and 
doesn't provide any meaningful benefit to public health. According to a 
recent Morning Consult survey, 47 percent of international travelers 
said the U.S.'s predeparture testing requirement is one of the top 
deterrents from booking a trip to the U.S. Meanwhile, other countries 
with similar case and vaccination rates--including Canada, Mexico, the 
U.K., Australia, Spain, France, Germany--have already removed their 
pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated travelers.
    We think the U.S. needs to follow the science the rest of the world 
is following. People have a lot of options about where to travel these 
days, and this unnecessary red tape is hurting our country's recovery.
    Other issues that need attention include inefficient visa 
processing and the lack of coordination across the government for 
travel export facilitation.
Visa Processing
    Pandemic-era policies created a backlog of visa applications. That 
backlog, combined with longstanding inadequacies in how we allocate 
resources within the State Department, has led to outrageously long 
wait times for visa interviews. Across the top 10 inbound markets that 
require a visitor visa for entry to the U.S., average wait-times for an 
appointment now exceed 400 days.\2\ This is important because 43 
percent of the 79 million international visitors that came to the U.S. 
in 2019 required a tourist or business travel visa.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ U.S. Travel Association analysis of State Department data; US 
Travel Association--Fact Sheet on U.S. Visa Challenges (May 2022)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    That's why we're asking Congress to update the U.S.'s visa system. 
We know this is a difficult problem to solve, but we think a few simple 
reforms can immediately relieve some pressure and should be included in 
the next government funding package--or another ``must-pass'' bill--to 
ensure they get enacted this year.
    The reforms we're urging Congress to pass are:

  (1)  Supplemental funding for Consular Affairs to increase the number 
        of consular officers on the ground at some of our posts with 
        the longest visa interview wait times;

  (2)  Language requiring the State Department to allow consular 
        officers to conduct visa interviews remotely through the use of 
        videoconferencing technology;

  (3)  Explicit authorization for the State Department to waive in-
        person interviews for low-risk travelers, such as those who 
        previously got a visa, were previously vetted, are from a low-
        risk country, and are now seeking a renewal;

  (4)  And lastly, language directing the State Department to give 
        large travel groups the option to have their visas processed 
        together.

    These are common sense ways to significantly reduce visa interview 
wait times and would make the process more manageable for both the 
State Department and travelers.
Travel Export Facilitation
    Regarding the need for greater coordination between the many 
different areas of the government that impact travel exports, the 
Travel and Tourism Omnibus Act can be hugely beneficial.
    The bill--like its predecessor, the Visit America Act--establishes 
an Assistant Secretary of Travel and Tourism at the Department of 
Commerce to develop and implement national travel policies; work with 
the International Trade Administration to facilitate U.S. bids for 
international exhibitions, conferences and events; and work with other 
countries on travel facilitation issues.
    Since travel touches so many areas of government--from DHS, TSA, 
and CBP, to the Department of State, DOT, FAA, and more--a senior 
Federal official is needed to more effectively coordinate policies 
across the government. It is also important to note that the U.S. is 
the only G20 country without a Federal agency or cabinet-level official 
in charge of tourism policy.
    Again, with travel serving as the country's second largest industry 
export pre-pandemic, we think it makes sense to give our issues the 
same kind of undivided attention that other important industries--like 
agriculture--receive.
    We know that in the past, U.S. destinations--our local cities and 
towns--have lost out on bids for international conferences and events 
because we didn't have anyone at the Federal level committed to pulling 
together all the different areas of government that need to come 
together to make a large-scale event a success.
    Event organizers are increasingly looking for that kind of 
coordination and forward-leaning leadership, so our government needs to 
step up. And this bill will help do that.
Conclusion
    Lastly, I'd be remiss to not also mention the need to restore 
domestic business travel. Although domestic leisure travel is on a 
healthy trajectory, domestic business travel spending is still 
significantly depressed, down 56 percent last year--which amounts to a 
loss of $152 billion annually. This is untenable for our industry. 
Despite making up 20 percent of total trip volume, business travelers 
accounted for 40-60 percent of lodging and air revenue pre-pandemic.
    Business travel is a necessity for many businesses--including 
restaurants and entertainment venues. That's why we're hoping Congress 
can come together on a tax extenders package that includes an extension 
of full expensing for business meals and a temporary restoration of the 
entertainment business expense deduction.
    They say a rising tide lifts all boats, so the more we can do to 
lift up these two sagging parts of the industry--domestic business 
travel and international inbound travel--the more workers, businesses, 
and communities we can lift up out of financial distress. And that's 
something I know we all support.
    Thank you for your time today and I'm happy to answer any questions 
you have.

    Senator Rosen. Well, thank you so much. You have all given 
us some great introductions here for us to talk about. I am 
going to recognize myself for 5 minutes to begin asking 
questions. Because obviously we are here today to talk about 
reviving international business travel, because direct spending 
on business travel by domestic and international travelers, 
including expenditures on meetings, events, and conventions 
totaled over $334 billion in 2019.
    Of course, that was pre-pandemic. But as we heard from Ms. 
Neufang's testimony, business travel to conventions is still 
down from that peak. We know that international business travel 
to conventions and trade shows, it is just essential for a 
convention center's revenues. It directly supports local 
economies. Participants stay at hotels, eat at restaurants, 
they gamble in casinos.
    Maybe they do some deep sea fishing over in Florida. They 
rent cars. They shop at local businesses. So I want to ask you, 
Ms. Neufang, that I appreciate that the GBTA has endorsed my 
Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. Our Omnibus Travel and Tourism 
Act includes a provision from Senator Sullivan that has been 
spoken about to create a new Assistant Secretary of Commerce 
for just this very purpose, travel and tourism.
    So we spoke about a few things in each one of your 
testimony, but could you really talk about how this new 
position really would boost international travel to 
conventions, in particular, to the United States?
    Ms. Neufang. Yes, thank you for that question, Senator. It 
is very critical that we have at the upper levels of Government 
the focus on travel and what it does for our business economies 
and other pieces.
    Business travel is really something we call now travel for 
work, and travel for work is something that is nonprofit. It is 
for profit. It is for all of the other dimensions of it that to 
have that level of economic impact within our industry and not 
be represented at that upper levels--it is very important for 
us to have that voice.
    We see ourselves as a voice for the business traveler, the 
hundreds of thousands of Americans who get on planes every 
week, if not every month, to be able to get their jobs done. 
And while we know that over 70 to 80 percent of them are very 
comfortable traveling for business again, they also need to 
have somebody looking out for them at the highest Government 
levels.
    We also need to coordinate what the bills are that really 
make an impact to the travel industry and having someone 
considering that on a day to day basis would be very important 
for us from the business travel perspective.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I want to build on that because 
we want to have people come here and spend more money. So we 
want to increase that international travel spending, right. So 
yesterday, the Department of Commerce released its national 
travel and tourism strategy. It includes a 5-year goal for 
international visitation to the U.S. of 90 million visitors 
each year.
    We are expected to spend about $279 billion annually well 
above current levels. I am going to direct this question to 
you, Ms. Barnes. I know you are remote, so I am pointing, I 
don't see you on my screen, but I know you are out there. I 
know you have discussed a little bit about why international 
travel spending in the U.S. is still down from before the 
pandemic.
    But could you provide any insight to what you have seen so 
far on the U.S. travel's views on this new Federal strategy to 
increase spending by international visitors, including those 
coming to the U.S. to participate in conventions?
    Ms. Barnes. Sure. We absolutely think that establishing a 
strategy is critically important. And the fact that we haven't 
seen a new strategy since 2012 really underscores the point 
within your legislation that would require a strategy on a more 
consistent basis. We, from what we have seen, we think it is 
absolutely what is needed to move the industry forward. But now 
the hard work begins.
    And so it is really going to be time to roll up our sleeves 
and make sure that we execute, that the Government is able to 
execute on the strategy. We seek to be a partner with you 
through that work. But just a little bit about how important 
having a strategy, and in particular on this international 
piece it is, is that in 2019, 79 million international visitors 
came from overseas--40 million of those were from overseas, the 
remainder from Canada and Mexico.
    And when international travelers come here, it is an 
export, and they spend approximately $3,700 when they visited 
the U.S. and stayed on average 17 nights. So those 
international visitors when they come here are really critical. 
And that is why it is so important that that target is part of 
this national travel and tourism strategy.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I am going to recognize Senator, 
Ranking Member Scott for his opening questions.
    Senator Scott. I am going to defer mine to Senator Blunt 
and I will do mine at the end.
    Senator Rosen. OK.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. ROY BLUNT, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSOURI

    Senator Blunt. Thank you, Senator Scott. And thank you, 
Senator Rosen. Ms. Neufang--I think we have seen more return to 
personal travel than we have business travel. How much of that 
do you think is just a changing of how people are going to 
handle their business travel in the future and how much of it 
do you think is responding to anything the Government could do 
about it?
    Ms. Neufang. Thank you for that question. We do know that 
from our members, 79 percent expressed within recent weeks that 
they experienced disruptions in their companies and their 
business due to Government--to Government regulations that 
banned or prevented them from doing travel.
    And where we see it is that the incoming test currently 
prevents, on an individual level, someone--an American, 
unwilling to leave the country not knowing if they can come 
back home. And for an international traveler who may represent 
a large corporation or a group who is traveling, that there is 
this big investment in meetings, and if they can't attend that 
meeting because they then test positive, it becomes a huge 
downward spiral in their budgets and their impact.
    So there are--we do see that there is resistance to invest 
in having those meetings, especially in the United States, 
while we have this ban. And it is very important that we remove 
that. We think, at the same time, that there is a new reality 
with travel and work and remote work and the kinds of in office 
or out of office work life that we have today.
    But we also know that there is new kinds of travel that 
come with that. We know that there is travel that is happening 
where remote work forces now need to get together once a month, 
once a quarter, or every 6 months to have strategy sessions and 
do that.
    Those are things that used to happen on campus that didn't 
require travel. We call that return to base travel, and there 
is other kinds of travel that is required now as a result of 
the new normal. So we think the new normal may look different, 
but the spend should actually get back to those current levels 
by the end of 2024.
    And we have been lagging on the international front while 
we have been moving straight ahead on the domestic front.
    Senator Blunt. Mr. Cutie, what about your--I know your 
numbers are high, and obviously, the airport is being utilized 
in a significant way. But what do you see in terms of return of 
your domestic numbers versus your international incoming 
flights?
    Mr. Cutie. OK. Thank you, Senator. One of the things that I 
think are the most amazing regarding our numbers is that we 
are--like I said, we are the number one airport for 
international passengers, but we are still not back 100 
percent. We are still about 80 to 85 percent back 
internationally.
    As I mentioned before, on any given day, we are anywhere 
from 100 to 105 percent back domestic. So, but to underscore 
what Ms. Barnes said, business travel international, I think, 
is where the untapped market lies. So if we can get these 
restrictions lifted, we could really tap into that--you know, 
that one missing piece that will get us over the top, which is 
the international business traveler.
    I think we are getting very close when it comes to leisure 
international travel, but if we can really tap into that 
business travel market, I think that would really put us over 
the top. Again, we are number one in the U.S., but we are still 
not back, and we are about 80 to 85 percent back international.
    I mean, I think we could be way better once these 
restrictions are lifted and we tap into that business travel 
market.
    Senator Blunt. Well, I think I signed a letter with at 
least 30 Senators that said eliminate the test coming into the 
country for people that are vaccinated. I am hearing from all 
three of you, I think, say that might be the single biggest 
thing we could do. Ms. Barnes, where are we on the whole topic 
of the kind of help people need for their destinations to go to 
work. Where are we on H-2A and B and other permits like that?
    Ms. Barnes. Thank you for the question, Senator. And first, 
thank you very much for your leadership on the emergency 
funding for Brand USA. Here in Orlando, where I am right now at 
our international travel trade show, it has been highly 
recognized, how important Brand USA is to the recovery.
    But just to underscore really quickly, the point on pre-
departure testing, we have got--you know, great that we had the 
funding for Brand USA. We could be doing even more if we were 
able to couple that with an elimination of this pre-departure 
testing. Our estimate is, is that 5.4 million visitors and $9 
billion in travel spending could happen this year, coupled with 
that brand USA if we lift the pre-departure testing right now. 
So it really is important that we do that.
    Another issue that you mentioned, there are the need to 
increase the H-2B visa allotment because right now we don't 
have enough workers and we need to ensure that we are able to 
welcome folks both domestically and internationally. And for 
every 100 jobs across all industry sectors, there is 65 people, 
Americans, I am sorry, looking for work. So clearly we don't 
have the workforce that we need here with 1.5 million jobs open 
in leisure and hospitality.
    So we need to increase that H-2B visa cap and we need to 
allow folks that have already got an H-2B to be waved from 
being held against the caps. So, we need more workers, Senator. 
Thank you.
    Senator Blunt. Thank you, Ms. Barnes. And thank you, Chair.
    Senator Rosen. Excuse me. Next, I would like to recognize 
remotely Senator Klobuchar.

               STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA

    Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you so much, Senator Rosen. 
It is good to see many friends here, and follow not just 
Senator Rosen, who so ably leads this subcommittee, but also 
Senator Blunt. Just a little bit on my home state right now. We 
are home to exceptional travel destinations from Lake Superior 
to the Mall of America. But even Minnesota has missed out on 
nearly $12 billion in travel spending since 2019.
    And we know behind those numbers are thousands and 
thousands of workers. So that is one of the reasons Senator 
Blunt and I worked so hard on the Restoring Brand USA Act, 
which was signed into law in March, and while we worked, all of 
us did, on the--during the pandemic on funding for tourism. So 
my first question is about Brand USA. Ms. Barnes, you noted in 
your testimony, by the end of last year, international inbound 
travel spending was still down 78 percent.
    Brand USA, as we know, has been very successful and has 
added, I think, something over $50 billion to our economy since 
2013, supported more jobs. Can you speak to how restoring Brand 
USA will continue to support our national economy?
    Ms. Barnes. Yes. Thank you for the question. And thank you 
as well, Senator, for your tremendous leadership on Brand USA, 
not only working with Senator Blunt on the reauthorization, but 
this area of emergency funding that has been so important for 
our economy. Brand USA historically has a return on investment 
of 25 to 1, which is really, really significant and highlights 
very much the impact it has on the economy.
    Without Brand USA, we would be far less competitive because 
as you note, we only have--we are the only--as you know, we 
were the only G20 country that doesn't have a tourism minister, 
and one of the reasons we need to have an Assistant Secretary 
dedicated to that. But Brand USA acts as an ambassador to go 
out and bring those international visitors here to the U.S. and 
that incremental benefit is really important.
    And I will just underscore with this as well, if we could 
eliminate the pre-departure testing, as I just noted, coupling 
that with Brand USA right now, again, if we eliminate pre-
departure testing in June, in this month, we could add an 
additional 5.4 million visitors and $9 billion in travel 
spending. So adding that----
    Senator Klobuchar. One other thing, long visa wait times in 
some of the biggest markets for international travel to the 
U.S. I remember when we did this long ago with the--took this 
on, some with Brand USA, some with the remote capabilities, but 
I am looking at places like 700 two-day waits out of certain 
parts of Mexico, 354 days, Brazil 643 days, Colombia just to 
give you a sense.
    Ms. Barnes. We really need to push the State Department. I 
mean, they have done it before in an average of 12 days, and 
they can do that again. Right now, the average wait time across 
the countries is 400--over 400 days. And in 2019, 43 percent of 
the $79 billion in spending that came into the U.S. 
internationally, those came from countries that required a 
visa. So we have to get those wait times down. It is a de facto 
border closure.
    Senator Klobuchar. Exactly. I still remember when Tom 
Nides, who is now the Ambassador to Israel, was number two in 
the State Department. And I had given them these facts and all 
of these numbers that we would have gotten together, Senator 
Rosen. And one morning at like 7 a.m. he called me on my cell 
phone, and he is like, ``Oh my God.'' Like he finally looked at 
it and saw those waits. So I do think we have to push this 
because it is an economic issue, as is something that was 
raised and is related, which is the workforce shortage.
    Ms. Neufang, in your testimony, you mentioned that staffing 
shortages are one of the biggest problems facing business 
travel or in my state. What more can we do on the workforce?
    Ms. Neufang. Thank you for that question, Senator 
Klobuchar. Certainly what we have seen is between 67 and 68 
percent of all suppliers are having difficulty hiring enough 
staff. And that is disruptive for business travelers at the 
basics when there is nobody to check them in, either in an 
airport or at a hotel. And it is also indicative that in some 
ways, they are competing for the same work force, which isn't 
fair to any of the great suppliers in our industry.
    So what we need are really long-term solutions for the way 
to fill the pipeline is the way that we say it, within a 
product environment that we need to fill the pipeline with the 
kind of workers that can grow into our industry. And often that 
means they are--they may be immigrants.
    They may be others that may need visas, but they may be 
here in another way. And we need to excite those who have left 
the industry to come back at a time when it felt like it was on 
shaky ground. And certainly what we know from Government 
assistance is that there were--there was a lot of great support 
for suppliers in our industry, that that shaky ground didn't 
last forever, and now we need to bring those same workers back 
and excited about this great industry that offers so much 
talent.
    Senator Klobuchar. OK. Thank you. Yes, thank you. I am 
going to--I would like to ask Mr. Cutie a question, but I will 
put it in writing. And I just want to mention, as you know, 
Minneapolis Saint Paul Airport, one of the best in the country, 
over and over again, yours is pretty good, too. But that 
workforce shortage we all just talked about, it is a problem 
for everyone.
    And that is why I strongly support some comprehensive 
immigration reform. I don't think there is another way to get 
around it when I have a unemployment rate in my State of 2.5 
percent, and I was at the airport with my daughter on Friday 
night for two and a half hours changing her flight. So let's 
just say I know from personal experience of the lines, and it 
is a lot of workforce issues, in addition to some other ones 
with the airlines right now.
    But I will let that go, and I want to thank you all and 
look forward to working with you on solutions. And I see 
Senator Blackburn is there. I saw her face waiting in the line 
here. So thank you. Bye.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. I would like 
to recognize remotely Senator Blackburn. Are you there, 
Senator? Can't see this--Senator Blackburn, are you there? 
Otherwise, we will go to Senator Sullivan in the room and then 
we will come back to you. All right, Senator Sullivan.

                STATEMENT OF HON. DAN SULLIVAN, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA

    Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thanks for 
your leadership on these issues. I hope my friend, Senator 
Klobuchar, is still on the line. I was actually in the 
Minneapolis airport this morning on my way back from Alaska on 
the red eye.
    And, you know, it is summertime, and I know in Minnesota, 
they are the land of 10,000 lakes. We are the land of 3 million 
lakes, so I just like to brag a little bit about Alaska 
relative to Minnesota, but it is a great state, Minnesota too. 
We are from Alaska----
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Sullivan.--anyways. So 10,000 lakes, 3 million 
lakes. But this is an area where I think there is really strong 
bipartisan agreement. And so, Ms. Barnes, I want to dig down 
and really, actually, for any of the witnesses. We are having 
these inconsistent mandates as it relates to, you know, 
testing, masking. And you have already gone into some of the 
numbers on the pre-departure testing.
    I would like you to touch on what do you think would be the 
most important policy change to have the biggest benefit on our 
tourism sector, as it relates--and if you can touch on the 
international cruises, the cruise lines, which I know matter to 
a lot of our states? But additionally, which agency is making 
these decisions?
    I am assuming it is CDC, but maybe, maybe we are wrong 
because obviously Congress could have a role in at least 
reaching out to these agencies and saying, hey, here is the 
impact you are having on our tourism sector, on our economy, 
you need to streamline your policies and at least make them, so 
they are consistent.
    So can you give us kind of your view on that, Ms. Barnes, 
and then anyone else who wants to weigh in, because I think it 
is really important for us to know, hey, who is actually in 
charge here? I am assuming the CDC, but maybe it isn't from 
your perspective.
    Ms. Barnes. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for your 
leadership on these issues. You know, I think having consistent 
policies really is critical. And I think that that is one of 
the things we need to take forward. It really doesn't make 
sense, for example, on pre-departure testing that you can walk 
or drive over the Northern and Southern border, but you can't 
fly in without having a pre-departure testing requirement. But 
I think that really the issue is a handful of things.
    One, as you know, we are the only country in the G20 that 
doesn't have a tourism minister or someone that is designated 
with leading the travel industry across the agencies--all the 
agencies. And that really is a problem and a challenge.
    So we appreciate your leadership in adding the Assistant 
Secretary position and the tour bus that you all have been 
working on bipartisanly, because that really would be someone 
that could help to make sure that all of the agencies that 
oversee tourism are able to do their job more efficiently.
    I do think as well that directing the State Department to 
set specific metrics on processing, on allowing for video 
conferencing, for visa--wait for visas, for clearing groups 
that are coming in together, those are a couple of things that 
could really happen quickly if Congress directs them. And that 
is something that that is really, really important because we 
otherwise have a de facto border closure.
    I also think having, you know, really having a focus on--as 
a Government, highlighting the economic importance of the 
travel and tourism industry and treating it like manufacturing 
and like all of the other industries that really kind of have 
that top level of attention from the Government is really, 
really critical.
    And so I think by directing the Administration, that would 
be a number one thing to do. But I would say, as it relates to 
pre-departure testing and the direction on these travel 
warnings, the White House really can make the decision to pull 
this pre-departure testing down.
    They do not need CDC--they can override CDC. So it would be 
really important, I think, for voices to be pushing the 
President, pushing the White House to pull it down now.
    Senator Sullivan. And do other G20 countries have a pre-
departure testing requirement? I don't know where we line up 
from other--perspective of other countries, you know.
    Ms. Barnes. Most other countries have pulled it down. And 
there are some issues in Asia, but by and large, all of our top 
competitors across the world have no more COVID requirements, 
no more pre-departure testing.
    Senator Sullivan. Any other witnesses want to comment on 
these matters? OK. Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate it. 
Thanks for your leadership on this. And I am hopeful we are 
going to get our tourism omnibus, our Tourism Bus Act----
    Senator Rosen. The tour bus----
    Senator Sullivan. Tour Bus Act and----
    Senator Rosen. We want to hit the road and get it passed 
and have the President sign.
    Senator Sullivan. And Ms. Barnes, thank you for noting my 
Visit America Act does have this idea of at least having an 
Assistant Secretary, Senate confirmed person. I am not a big 
Government guy, but I agree with you. In the councils of 
Government, when we make decisions, tourism is often an 
afterthought.
    And I think if we had someone at a Senate confirmed 
position, focused solely on tourism, that you would have--you 
wouldn't have these situations where the CDC is overriding 
policies that clearly are harming tourism, and we don't have a 
voice to push back on it. So thanks again.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you, Senator Sullivan. I think that 
Senator Blackburn fixed her remote issues. So, Senator 
Blackburn, if you are there, I would like to recognize you.

              STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE

    Senator Blackburn. Yes, I am here. And thank you so much, 
Madam Chairman. Mr. Cutie, I want to come to you.
    It is my understanding that you have been making 
recommendations to the White House on how to reopen travel and 
get people from around the globe focused on U.S. travel and 
going and actually repealing the pandemic focused travel 
restrictions. Let people know that America is open for travel.
    So if you would talk about the Administration's lack of 
transparency on the travel restrictions and what you see as the 
best way to send that clear message that indeed, we are open 
for business?
    Mr. Cutie. Thank you so much for the question, Senator. I 
would say the number one thing, and I want to echo Ms. Barnes 
and Ms. Neufang's testimony. I think if we can lift those pre-
departure travel restrictions, I think that would send a very 
strong and clear message not only to the United States 
internally, but to the rest of the world, that we are open for 
business, that it is safe to travel, and that the economic 
impacts that we would benefit from, I think, are tangible.
    I mean, I mentioned in my testimony $3.8 billion annually 
in economic impact from the lifting of that, I think is a big 
number. So I think that alone would send a clear message. If we 
can go ahead and maintain the mask mandate--lifting of the mask 
mandates, keeping them how they are, and lifting those pre-
departure COVID travel restrictions, I think would go a long 
way toward tapping into that untapped business travel that we 
still don't have internationally and really would send a 
message clear across the world that we are open for business, 
and it is safe to travel, and that people can come to the 
United States safely.
    Senator Blackburn. Well, in Tennessee, where I am from, our 
Governor Bill Lee has done a great job of trying to encourage 
travel. And the City of Memphis just completed a $200 million 
renovation of their Convention Center. We have got legislation 
like the Music Act that would help with many of our shuttered 
venues and getting people back into some of these venues.
    Memphis, Nashville, East Tennessee, up in the Smoky 
Mountains, we are needing to get those travel policies pre-
pandemic back in place. So we are hopeful that the 
Administration will kind of--kind of change their tune a little 
bit on how they are approaching this. Ms. Neufang, I wanted to 
talk with you because you mentioned in your testimony the trade 
shows and the conferences and the importance of this to the 
economy.
    And in Tennessee, we look at that because, the music 
industry, the entertainment industry, as well as hotels and 
restaurants and convention centers, this is something that is 
vitally important. And we have seen, a lot of damage by trying 
to do these events virtually and not doing them in person. So 
are you able to address the economic impact of these 
communities? Because we have certainly seen the adverse impact 
of that in Tennessee.
    Ms. Neufang. Thank you for that question. We are just 
embarking as GBTA on our next economic impact study because we 
know the numbers are very important. I would add that we just 
had a small conference of about 100 people in Nashville and we 
had a very great welcoming, so thank you very much to Tennessee 
and Nashville.
    I would also add that we are very focused as well on making 
sure that that 18 to 20 percent of all spend that is in 
conferences and conventions is actually going to those local 
communities, and that sustainability of those local communities 
is really some of the best memories that business travel--
business travelers have because all of us who are road warriors 
remember the last airport bad experience, but we also remember 
the really great good experience that we had with a local 
waiter, with a local check in desk clerk, and we know that the 
entertainment opportunities in your home state are certainly 
great. So thank you very much for your support.
    Senator Blackburn. Well, Madam Chairman, thank you for the 
hearing and thank you all for the attention that you are 
putting on these issues. Ms. Barnes, I am pleased to know that 
you are at a conference actually working on how to solve some 
of these issues with the travel industry today. Thank you all 
so much.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you, Senator Blackburn. I would like 
to recognize Ranking Member Scott for his questions.
    Senator Scott. Thank you, Chair Rosen. Mr. Cutie, can you 
talk to me, what was the response from your--from passengers on 
the lifting of the mask mandate? Were they thought it was a 
positive, concern? What was their response?
    Mr. Cutie. Well, thank you so much, Senator Scott. First of 
all, thank you for your leadership and thank you for the 
question. I can tell you that on the day that the mask mandates 
were lifted, we had what amounted to almost a New Year's Eve 
type celebrations in our terminal, people throwing up their 
masks in celebration, not having to wear their mask anymore.
    So and we heard similar reports from other airports around 
the country. So I can see that overwhelmingly the lifting of 
the mask mandate was very well received, not only here at MIA, 
but I think throughout the country.
    Senator Scott. At MIA, how many jobs you think are impacted 
by their testing requirement? How many on the international 
flights?
    Mr. Cutie. I would have to research that and get you the 
number back, Senator. I mean, I don't have that exact number, 
but I would be happy to get that for you.
    Senator Scott. So how long do you think if we got rid of 
the testing requirement on international travel, how long 
before you get back to pre-pandemic levels?
    Mr. Cutie. I mean, I guess I would say within the next 6 
months would be a realistic number. I mean, we are at 82, 85 
percent of our pre-COVID numbers international, and we are 
leaving the country to international travel. We could get those 
requirements lifted, I would say easily within the next six to 
maybe 9 months we can get back to where we were before, pre-
pandemic.
    Senator Scott. Ms. Barnes, I am glad you are in the great 
state of Florida. I think that too often the answer to a 
problem is not having more Government or having the Federal 
Government do more, it is actually Government getting out of 
the way and letting the private sector figure this out, which 
they generally can do without a lot of Government needs and 
without this burdensome regulation bureaucracy.
    So what are the big things, if Government did right now, 
the three things or two things, whatever you think, the big 
things they could do now that would dramatically change 
international travel?
    Ms. Barnes. So number one, lift the pre-departure testing. 
Our data shows that if we were to lift pre-departure testing in 
June, we would be able to bring in 5.4 million visitors and $9 
billion in spending to the U.S. this year, which is really 
critical. Expedite the visa wait time backlog. So right now we 
are seeing over 400 days from--on average for international 
visitors coming from non-visa waiver program countries.
    We need to set a metric and have the State Department pass 
those through in 12 to 15 days, enable some pilot--allow a 
pilot to go through where we can do video conferencing for 
renewals for visas and also pass--allow for the State 
Department to allow for visas for groups ensuite so that they 
can all come in together, especially for business travel. So 
those are a couple of things.
    And then obviously we need to really make sure that to 
facilitate large conventions and trade shows, that that is a 
focus of the Commerce Department, that they actually go out and 
try to get that business here in the U.S.
    Right now we are at a competitive disadvantage without 
having an even playing field, and so it is critical that we 
eliminate that pre-departure testing, that we get the visa 
processing backlog under control, and that we go out and 
solicit business conventions and meetings to be held here in 
the United States.
    Senator Scott. Thanks. For each of you, what--is the 
inflation, how is that impacting your industry and your 
opportunities going forward? Mr. Cutie, you want to start, and 
then we are going to do Ms. Barnes and Ms. Neufang?
    Mr. Cutie. I think one of the--thank you. Thank you, 
Senator. I think one of the biggest impacts to our industry, 
and when it comes to inflation, I would say, would be fuel 
costs, the amount, the impacts to airlines and the cost of 
fuel, which translates to cost for ticketing and travel. I 
would say that would be the number one impact.
    Senator Scott. Ms. Barnes.
    Ms. Barnes. So we have data that shows that inflation is 
the number one obstacle to travel right now. You know, it is 
not COVID. It is in other things. So it is inflation. And so 
that is a challenge.
    We are still looking at a 2024, 2025 time horizon to get 
back just to the 2019 numbers. And the inflation is definitely 
the exacerbater in that. But if we could move forward on the 
things that I just mentioned and we didn't have inflation, then 
we really could pull up that timeline for recovery to 2023 or 
early 2024.
    Senator Scott. Ms. Neufang, inflation?
    Ms. Neufang. Yes, certainly business budgets are always 
limited, so fewer trips if prices rise. So the price of fuel is 
really important. But it is also probably a really great time 
for us to focus on things like sustainable aviation fuel and 
looking at the blended tax credit so that at this time of 
crisis with normal fuel and kerosene for jet fuel, that we can 
also focus on getting to a cleaner future by supplementing the 
kind of investment that we need to do on a public, private 
scale to get clean business travel back on the road again.
    Senator Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.
    Senator Rosen. Well, thank you, Ranking Member Scott. I 
have a couple last questions and then if you have anything 
else, I will let you do that. But I want to ask Mr. Cutie, 
what--talk a little bit more of the nitty gritty about our 
airports, because really they are gateways for so much of our 
travel.
    So as far as resources for airports, what resources do you 
think you need for Congress to prepare, hopefully for not just 
a return to where we were in 2019, but hopefully as we navigate 
through this pandemic, as we are doing and beyond, as we 
continue to thrive, what resources might you need from Congress 
to help us get you there?
    Mr. Cutie. Thank you so much for the question, Senator. I 
would say if I had to--if I had to highlight two things, I 
would tell you additional resources for our TSA and CBP agents. 
We can always use more agents to be able to process our 
throughput through our checkpoints.
    We are having a tremendous growth here at MIA over the last 
year. We put up our busiest day on March 20 with 168,000 
passengers. And during that week, we broke our number one day 
for passenger volume, 3 days in a week.
    So I think the biggest impact on the Federal level is if we 
could get, you know, as many additional staff as we could, both 
at TSA and CBP. That will go a long way toward helping us with 
our throughput and moving passengers.
    Senator Rosen. Well, that is fantastic. It is a good 
concrete idea. Thank you. I want to move on and just have one 
last question. We have talked a lot about our visa processing, 
not just for business travel, but conventions, personal, all of 
that. Ms. Neufang, you testified before this subcommittee last 
time.
    You urged the Administration to expedite visa and passport 
processing, which, of course, at the time because of COVID was 
slowed or even shuttered in some cases, so that business 
travelers, as they do start to return to work, return to base--
I hadn't heard that before. I like that that way you think 
about business travel now. But they need the proper 
documentation.
    So specifically, we did discuss the State Department's hand 
to carry program. It was shuttered indefinitely, and that is a 
program used by U.S. business travelers who need to obtain 
passports quickly based on historical application data. As a 
result of your testimony, I joined Ranking Member of the 
Commerce Committee, Senator Wicker, and the Ranking Member of 
this Subcommittee, Senator Scott, and we wrote to the State 
Department and requested that it reinstate the hand carry 
program to pre-pandemic levels.
    The State Department agreed to resume service of the hand 
carry program and plan to reach pre-pandemic processing levels 
by the end of 2022. So can you talk to me a little bit about 
how the resumption of the hand carry program has helped, helped 
to restore some business travel and conventions? And have you 
been able to access the program? Anything else that should be 
on our radar here?
    Ms. Neufang. Thank you, Senator, so much, Senators, for 
your support because we felt it. We also have a mini---- 
conference here in Washington, D.C. this week with about 100 
people who are focused on legislative issues. And among the 
attendees are visa--these hand carry visa providers.
    So we know from them that it has been a great help for them 
and the companies that they serve to be able to get those 
expedited business passports and visas back on the road again. 
So the log jam was fixed for them. I understand that there are 
a lot more problems to fix, but that hand carry program solved 
that executive need, which is they know in 2 days they need to 
travel, or a week and they can't wait 400 days to be able to 
see their teams or visit a factory or do the other things that 
they are part of, getting their businesses back on the road 
again, and it has been a great help. So that problem wasn't 
even in my testimony because we saw that that was resolved 
since last September.
    Senator Rosen. Any other suggestions as far as State 
Department goes, that might be helpful to you as we think about 
future legislation?
    Ms. Neufang. Certainly don't take your eyes off the ball. I 
think that is really important that we do staff consulates and 
the video testimony that. Ms. Barnes--the video conferencing 
ability that Ms. Barnes said is important. We have to get into 
the 2022s and get into the modern age to be able to provide for 
that kind of support for inbound international travelers as 
well.
    Senator Rosen. I have one last question before we will see 
if Senator Scott has anything left. I just--we have talked a 
little bit, you have talked about TSA and CBP at our airports 
because international air passengers, they come to the United 
States, they have--oftentimes they have subsequent transfer 
flights, so they might have to be screened again at an airport 
security checkpoint before they board their transfer flight.
    So the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act would authorize the 
TSA in coordination with CBP to conduct a one stop security 
pilot program that would allow passengers and baggage arriving 
from certain foreign airports to bypass security screening if 
the last point of departure airport has commensurate levels of 
screening to the U.S. So we are not going to lower any 
security.
    So, Ms. Barnes, I know--I wish you were here. I could see 
you remotely. But can you talk about how the establishment of a 
one stop security pilot program might also help our inbound 
international travel spending and just improve the experience, 
and how you feel that possibly our current screening 
insufficiencies, that they could be a barrier to a robust 
international inbound travel.
    Ms. Barnes. Well, thank you for the question. This is a 
very important policy, and we would love to see it realized 
very, very soon. The traveler experience is really critical to 
international travelers coming back to the United States. If 
they have a more seamless experience, they are more likely to 
have positive things to say not only about the country, but 
about the process and return.
    And as I noted earlier, the international traveler spends 
on average $3,700 and stays for on average, 17 nights. So it is 
really important that we make that experience seamless, and 
quite frankly, that we really look at optimizing the biometric 
technologies across the agencies. Right now, CBP has the 
technology to have a better experience.
    And with TSA and CBP both being part of DHS, it seems that 
they should be able to share the technology to make that 
experience more seamless. So we would welcome a robust agenda 
on the biometric technologies and how that can make a more 
seamless, secure experience, and very much appreciate the work 
on this pilot program and would love to see it enacted very 
soon.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. We just heard that Senator Tester 
has joined us remotely. So, Senator Tester, I am going to 
recognize you for your questions. Are you there? He's on mute.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

    Senator Tester. [Technical problems]--on mute. How is that? 
I have only been doing this for a year and a half and I still 
haven't figured out where the hell the mute button is. At any 
rate, I want to thank you, Chairman Rosen and Ranking Member 
Scott, for having this hearing--this very important hearing, 
especially I think it is important for every state in the 
union, but for a state like Montana, it has become critically 
important.
    It has been a destination for recreational travelers and 
getting to be more of a destination for business travelers. You 
know, every Senator in here, I think, travels a lot. And 
usually, and I know domestic travel is up, and I can attest it 
is up, because when I go through the airport, man, it is like a 
sardine can. There are a lot of folks there. But the question I 
have is, the prices of the tickets are crazy expensive coming 
to Montana. I mean, crazy expensive.
    And I don't know if it's that way all over the country, but 
that would seem to me to be somewhat of an anti-stimulus as far 
as getting folks to want to travel. What are your guys view on 
that? And do you think there is anything we can do? Or is it 
just supply and demand of pilots and supply and demand of fuel 
that is causing this problem? Go ahead. Anybody can speak to 
it. Ladies first, how is that.
    Ms. Barnes. I am happy to jump in. Senator, thank you. You 
know, there are supply and demand issues. But I mean, it is a 
workforce problem, and it is inflation. So, you know, you 
couple that together and it really it is a challenge. 
Obviously, you know, the pent up demand, absolutely very, very 
strong.
    And I think for some period of time, folks will be 
continuing to travel domestically. But there are a lot of 
things that we need to do, like eliminate the pre-departure 
testing and expedite visas to be able to get international 
travel back, to get business travel back. And in the meantime, 
unfortunately, due to inflation and workforce issues, we are 
seeing an uptick in prices. So we hope--we advise to book 
ahead.
    Senator Tester. Anybody else want to respond to that at 
all? Add to it?
    Ms. Neufang. If I could go next. Thank you, Senator, for 
your question. I think from a business travel perspective, 
certainly a lot of business travel is not arbitrary. A lot of 
people get sent on the road because that is their job. And so 
while inflation might affect how the overall budgets are spent, 
I think ultimately that whether they are going for conferences 
in the Rockies, in Montana where I have been, or whether they 
are going to other places for those conferences, for training 
and for the kinds of development they need--the other thing 
that is happening in the business world is that they have to do 
something to retain their talent.
    And if they are not doing things like sending people on the 
road to conferences for training and learning and networking 
and the other important things that they need to do to be 
better at their jobs, we know that they are leaving to go to 
other jobs.
    And so there is a huge incentive for employees--employers 
to be making sure that employees are also being treated with 
that kind of development investment that often business travel 
is for them.
    Senator Tester. Go ahead, Ralph.
    Mr. Cutie. OK. Senator, to go ahead and echo what Ms. 
Barnes said, I would say the number one issue with ticketing 
and pricing of tickets, I would say, is obviously supply and 
demand. But fuel prices, I think, is what is really driving the 
issue with ticket prices right now. Inflation and fuel, I 
think, is probably the number one most direct impact to the 
pricing of ticketing right now and on purchasing tickets.
    So, obviously, that is a supply and demand issue, but I 
think we are all feeling it. Our airline partners here at MIA 
talk about it all the time. The amount of fuel, the cost of 
fuel for them is really a big ticket item as far as how they 
set their ticket pricing, so that is a problem.
    Senator Tester. That is a question for all three of you. 
Again, I have heard you talk about increases for visas and a 
number of other things. I wasn't here at the beginning, so I 
didn't hear your opening statements, so I apologize if you have 
already addressed this. You know, the vaccines have worked 
pretty well in the United States.
    It hasn't been as successful in other parts of the world. 
What role is the fact that the pandemic isn't completely behind 
us yet--even in this country, it is not completely behind us. 
What role does that play in international travel? Has it been 
significant? I mean, today is it significant?
    Ms. Neufang. If I could address that. Thank you, Senator, 
for that question. From a business traveler perspective, we are 
the first ones to--we were the first ones to get in line 
because we wanted to get back on planes. We were also the first 
ones really to give up our PII when we are giving our biometric 
information to get through a security line faster. And we were 
the first ones to be vaccinated.
    We knew, for example, that last July, of our respondents in 
our regular monthly survey, 90 percent were already vaccinated 
by the time we were surveying them in July 2021. So we know 
that from a business perspective, business travelers--I have 
been on the road a lot over the last year. They are meeting, 
they are getting together. They have seen the impact of not 
getting together, and they are losing employees that they have 
never even met because they haven't been together.
    And so this need to meet is really important. And the 
pandemic at this point, with vaccines that work pretty well, 
people are getting sick, but they are not getting as sick. And 
we know that from our business traveler perspective, that is 
their sense of security in the public health world that we live 
in. And business travelers have always traveled with a fair bit 
of public health risk.
    And I think at this point, they feel like their governments 
have done a fair bit of goodness for them in speeding up the 
vaccines to get them where they need to be at this point. So 
other than a couple of Asian countries that Ms. Barnes 
referenced earlier, we do see that the U.S. is the one holdout 
country for inbound testing that is still there, and we need to 
be with the rest of our neighbors and our European colleagues, 
even Australia, to be able to invite international travelers 
back in.
    Senator Tester. Anybody else want to respond to that? I 
have run out of time. I will just say, thank you guys very 
much. I agree with what you just said, and I appreciate you 
guys being on the blower and will talk to you soon, thanks.
    Ms. Barnes. Thank you, Senator Tester. I would like to 
recognize Ranking Member Scott for a second round of questions.
    Senator Scott. Sure. Well, I want to thank each of you for 
being such great advocates for travel and tourism. What has 
your experience been in the last year and a half talking to the 
executive branch, whether it is the visa processing issue or 
the test requirement for international travel or the TSA, CBP 
issues of making sure when people come to our airports that 
they can get through quickly. So what has been your experience 
going through? Why don't we start with Ms. Neufang this time?
    Ms. Neufang. Yes, thank you. Thank you for that question. I 
think it is mixed. I would say on, for example, the White House 
Task Force for COVID, we have felt shut out in many ways. But 
that was, you know, first of all, it was panic. And then I 
think we have been trying to follow the science as well.
    So we are very much trying to push what we see happening in 
other markets and showing the success of that. I think from a 
TSA and a CBP perspective, we have regular conversations with 
them, and they participate in our annual convention.
    They want to talk about the innovations they are bringing 
and use us as a test market, much like global entry was a test 
market for us. So I would say there is a full range of full 
interaction to sometimes being felt left out.
    Senator Scott. Ms. Barnes.
    Ms. Barnes. Thank you, Senator. I would say that there are 
different agencies that have been particularly helpful. For 
example, the Commerce Department. Secretary Raimondo and her 
team have been remarkable in understanding the importance of 
our issues and the need to really bring commerce to and within 
the United States as it relates to travel.
    You know, we are disappointed that the visa wait times at 
the State Department haven't improved and instead have actually 
declined. And quite frankly, we would like to see the White 
House and the Administration proper--in that way, declare the 
importance of travel and say, give the all clear, say that it 
is OK to get back out there, say that it is OK to travel. We 
are doing that throughout our communities.
    So many folks here are vaccinated, and I think holding this 
pre-departure testing requirement kind of hostage is now really 
just hurting the economy. So I would agree with Ms. Neufang 
that we have had a mixed type of approach with the 
Administration.
    Senator Scott. Right. Mr. Cutie.
    Mr. Cutie. Yes, Senator. Thank you, Senator. I would agree 
with Ms. Barnes and Ms. Neufang. I think our approach has been 
mixed as well. We have a very, very strong relationship with 
TSA, CBP, and our Federal partners. And we work hand in hand 
with them during this recovery.
    And that has been priceless for us as far as our recovery. 
We have very good relationships with Homeland Security and some 
of the other umbrella Federal agencies. We are pursuing 
different technology solutions as far as moving our throughput 
through our checkpoints. That has been very helpful during our 
recovery as well, moving the amount of passengers that we have 
been experiencing over the last 6 months.
    So I think those relationships that we have built over time 
have been really, really crucial in us having the robust 
recovery that we have had here at MIA. And we are going to 
continue that. We continue to have those relationships. And I 
think we have a very good partnering type system here at MIA, 
and we are very proud of that.
    Senator Scott. Thank you, Chair Rosen. And thank you to all 
the witnesses.
    Senator Rosen. Well, I want to thank our witnesses today 
for participating, some of them for the multiple times, at this 
committee. We appreciate all the work that you have been doing, 
all the input you have been giving us, and how we can continue 
to increase domestic and international travel to the United 
States to support conventions, trade show, again, personal 
travel, business travel.
    The hearing record will remain open for two weeks until 
Tuesday, June 21, 2022. And so I would like to submit a letter 
for the record from the American Society of Travel Advisors. 
And any Senators that would like to submit questions for the 
record should do so by Tuesday, June 21, 2022.
    Again, for those of you who testified today, we ask that 
your responses be returned to the Committee as quickly as 
possible and in no case later than two weeks after receipt. I 
thank you all so much. Thank you, Ranking Member Scott. Another 
good hearing.
    [Whereupon, at 4:24 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                            Suzanne Neufang
    Tourism Visa Backlog. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 
2020, the number of international visitors arriving in Arizona declined 
by 76 percent. The number of overseas visitors traveling to Arizona 
declined by 88 percent during the same time period. In addition to 
Canada and Mexico, large numbers of international visitors from the 
United Kingdom, France, and Germany travel to Arizona to enjoy our 
majestic landscapes and desirable climate. During the hearing, several 
of my colleagues highlighted backlogs in visa processing for tourist 
visas. Tourist visa appointment wait times in the top ten inbound 
markets, including many European nations, are over 400 days on average.

    Question. How does this visa backlog affect international travel? 
What steps can Congress take to address this issue? Have you seen any 
recent changes in the tourism visa wait times?
    Answer. The difficulty in obtaining visas is causing companies to 
bypass the U.S. and instead hold meetings in other countries. Congress 
can investigate pilot programs and issues such as the following:

   Pursue the use of foil-less visas for digital visa 
        processing that provide for verification of the traveler's 
        identity.

   Explore the direct capture of photographs for passports and 
        visas to standardize image quality for improved comparisons 
        against travel documents, reduce the probability of false 
        rejections, and combat fraud.

   Expand the ability within State, in collaboration with DHS, 
        to process and approve securely and remotely certain 
        nonimmigrant visa applications that do not require interviews, 
        both domestically and overseas.

     For example, State currently assists personnel in 
            Mexico with remote processing of Border Crossing Card 
            renewals and in Central America and the Northern Triangle 
            with visa applications for temporary agricultural workers. 
            This capability can be used at additional posts around the 
            world as needed

   The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables most citizens or 
        nationals of 40 participating countries to travel to the United 
        States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less 
        without obtaining a visa. In FY2019, there were more than 22.9 
        million admissions to the United States under this program, 
        constituting nearly a third (31 percent) of all temporary 
        visitor admissions. Expanding the VWP to additional partner 
        nations would increase the number of trips that do not require 
        visas, freeing up resources and shrinking backlogs for other 
        would-be travelers. While the State Department and Department 
        of Homeland Security continue to explore adding participants, 
        several key U.S. allies and trading partners, including Israel 
        and Brazil, are not yet included.

    Additional Workforce Needs. In May, the Labor Department reported a 
national unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. Yet, the number of available 
jobs has at times outpaced the available labor supply, with a number of 
hotels, restaurants, and other businesses tied to the tourism industry 
in Arizona reporting difficulties filling open positions.

    Question. What suggestions do you have to help the travel and 
hospitality sectors meet these workforce needs? Are there any 
additional actions Congress can take in this area?
    Answer. In a GBTA survey released June 23, 2022, corporate travel 
buyers identified staffing shortages as among the top issues facing the 
industry (33 percent), behind only government policies and restrictions 
on travel (43 percent), and COVID-19 infection rates (38 percent). 
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to hiring more airline 
pilots, CDL drivers, hotel housekeepers, restaurant servers and pool 
lifeguards, increasing opportunities for work visas and improving the 
immigration system would add to the overall labor pool and ease 
workforce shortages throughout the travel ecosystem.
    The travel industry is unique in that it relies on international 
travel and immigration for both its customer base and its labor force. 
GBTA supports lifting numerical caps and easing the application process 
for both employers and workers, including in the H-1B, H-2B, and J-1 
Summer Work Travel visa programs.

    Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. I am a proud cosponsor of 
bipartisan legislation S. 3375, the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. S. 
3375 includes a number of bipartisan bills to promote U.S. tourism. The 
bill also establishes an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and 
Tourism to coordinate with Commerce Department and other Federal 
agencies on U.S. domestic travel and tourism issues and develop 
strategies to enable more international travelers to visit the United 
States.

    Question. If enacted, how will the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act 
affect your members and the U.S. travel industry as a whole?
    Answer. GBTA has endorsed the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act of 
2021 and thanks you for co-sponsoring the bill.
    As you are all too familiar, the impact of COVID-19 on the business 
travel industry has been severe. While domestic and leisure travel have 
made significant progress, international and business travel remain far 
behind pre-pandemic norms.
    The business travel industry needs additional support and resources 
to recover. As such, GBTA supports the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act 
of 2021 as a positive step in restoring global business travel and 
meetings in the U.S. and abroad.
    In particular, GBTA supports the creation of an Assistant Secretary 
for Travel and Tourism within the Department of Commerce. This 
leadership role will be vital for establishing goals, pursuing 
strategies, and convening public and private sector stakeholders with 
the shared goal of increased international travel.
    International companies need to know it is safe and open to send 
their employees to meetings and events in the U.S. The Visit America 
program and all other items overseen by this position including 
interagency cooperation, strategic decisions on tourism and improving 
safety and screening will be necessary to achieve this goal.
    Also vital to business travel is the timely adjudication of visas. 
Opening U.S. markets to more international business travelers is 
exactly what our economy needs. GBTA supports examining all possible 
solutions, including

   Shortening the maximum time for processing visas, by 
        visitation type,

   regulatory and policy changes needed to meet the visa 
        processing goals including changes regarding technology, 
        processing centers, and training; and

   streamlining visa applications and adjudications, including 
        application design and data collection procedures.

    GBTA also supports the consideration of pilot programs to integrate 
technology into the visitor visa adjudication process, as well as 
expansion and improvements to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), 
preclearance operations and Trusted Traveler programs.
    As international business travel comes back in safer, faster and 
more secure modes, trade between U.S. businesses and their 
international customers and partners will grow. Millions of face-to-
face business meetings around the world drive jobs creation, increased 
corporate revenues, and expansion efforts.
    This bill lays the foundation for accommodating the type of last-
minute, invaluable business travel to U.S. essential in today's 
extremely competitive global marketplace.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                         Ralph Cutie
    Aviation Maintenance Workforce. Congress identified the maintenance 
workforce as a key area of focus during the Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA) reauthorization in 2018, and created a workforce 
development grant specifically for maintenance workers. Unfortunately, 
it took years for the FAA to establish the program, even after Members 
of Congress, including me, prioritized this program, appropriated 
funding for it, and urged the FAA to stand-up the program and 
distribute funds to eligible applicants. Applications are now open for 
the next round of FAA workforce development grants.

    Question. Mr. Cutie, have carriers at Miami International Airport 
reported difficulties filling maintenance positions? Are any community 
colleges or technical institutes in South Florida considering 
participating in the FAA program?
    The aviation industry is in dire need of personnel in all areas--
from airline personal to concessions workers. Airlines, repair stations 
and supporting repair stations at MIA are experiencing the demand as 
well. The latest Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook Report for the next 
20-year projects that 612,000 new pilots and 626,000 new maintenance 
technicians will be needed to fly and maintain the world's airline 
fleet. The projected demand for technicians in North America, alone, is 
132,000.
    The Miami-Dade Aviation Department reached out to South Florida's 
largest Aviation technical training facility, Miami-Dade College (MDC) 
Eig-Watson School of Aviation for their input. MDC is in the process of 
developing Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) programs outside of 
the FAA workforce development grants program. In 2021, MDC applied for 
the FAA Pilot and AMT workforce development grants. Unfortunately, MDC 
was not awarded the grants. However, MDC will continue applying for 
future FAA workforce development grants.

    Airport Improvements in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The 
bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IJJA) included $15 
billion for Airport Improvement Program projects over five years and an 
additional $5 billion over five years for the Airport Terminal Program.

    Question. How will this funding for airport infrastructure enable 
Miami International Airport to welcome more international travelers to 
the United States?
    Prior to the pandemic, Miami International Airport (MIA) 
experienced record passenger traffic levels for three consecutive 
years. For 2022, MIA is once again on track to shatter the 2019 record 
of 46.5 million passengers. MIA is now the busiest U.S. airport for 
international travel and continues to set new records each month for 
passenger growth. MIA is also the top ranked airport in the U.S. for 
international freight and the first International Air Transport 
Association (IATA) designated Pharma Hub Airport in the U.S. and the 
second in the world, after only Brussels Airport. The designation 
underscores MIA's leading role as a both safe and efficient global 
logistics hub for high-value, temperature-sensitive drugs and 
medicines.
    To meet this unprecedented, continued growth, MIA has embarked on a 
new Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The CIP will fund up to $5 
billion in airport-wide modernization projects over the next five to 
fifteen years, paving the way for future growth in passenger and cargo 
traffic at MIA--projected to reach 77 million travelers and more than 
four million tons of freight by the year 2040.
    Currently, MIA is served by 36 domestic and 61 foreign airlines and 
is recognized as the country's primary gateway to Latin America and the 
Caribbean. MIA is a leading economic engine for Miami-Dade County and 
for the State of Florida with an overall impact of nearly $32 billion 
annually. Aviation and its related activities are responsible for over 
275,000 direct and indirect jobs.
    To continue to effectively grow MIA's cargo volumes as well as its 
number of new international passenger airlines, domestic and 
international trade routes, it is necessary to construct improvements 
throughout the County's airport system, but predominantly to MIA's 
terminals, cargo operations, airside, and landside facilities. Without 
these improvements, MIA will not be able to pave the way for future 
growth and compete with other large gateway airports in the decades to 
come. Infrastructure formula grants and competitive Terminal Grant 
Funds will play a critical role in helping MIA move forward towards a 
modernized and enhanced MIA.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                          Tori Emerson Barnes
    Tourism Visa Backlog. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 
2020, the number of international visitors arriving in Arizona declined 
by 76 percent. The number of overseas visitors traveling to Arizona 
declined by 88 percent during the same time period. In addition to 
Canada and Mexico, large numbers of international visitors from the 
United Kingdom, France, and Germany travel to Arizona to enjoy our 
majestic landscapes and desirable climate. During the hearing, several 
of my colleagues highlighted backlogs in visa processing for tourist 
visas. Tourist visa appointment wait times in the top ten inbound 
markets, including many European nations, are over 400 days on average.

    Question. How does this visa backlog affect international travel? 
What steps can Congress take to address this issue? Have you seen any 
recent changes in the tourism visa wait times?
    Answer. Insufficient visa processing operations, in conjunction 
with extended wait-times for visa appointments, could undermine the 
economic, social, and diplomatic benefits of reopening inbound 
international travel. To ensure international visitation can fully 
resume, we respectfully urge Congress and the administration to take 
all necessary steps to restore visa processing operations, reduce the 
backlog of appointments, and lower visa wait-times as soon as possible.
    As of May 2022, average wait-times for a visa appointment in the 
top 20 countries for inbound travel to the U.S. were more than 400 
days--with many sites exceeding that average, including Guadalajara, 
Mexico (702 days) and Hyderabad, India (883 days).\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ According to an analysis of State Department data by the U.S. 
Travel Association. https://www.ustravel.org/sites/default/files/2022-
05/visaprocessing-factsheet.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Limited visa processing capacity and extended wait-times will 
discourage inbound travel, reduce visitor spending, and disrupt the 
reopening of American businesses. According to the U.S. Travel 
Association, international visitor spending in the U.S. was still 78 
percent below 2019 levels in 2021. As international and domestic travel 
begin to recover, many travel businesses rely on H-2B and J1 visas to 
meet short-term and seasonal workforce demands that cannot otherwise be 
filled. With significant visa interview wait times discouraging 
international visitation, travel businesses will not have the 
international visitors or the temporary workers they need to generate a 
speedy and robust recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Congressional leadership can help reduce visa wait times and spur 
faster recovery in America's travel industry by:

  (1)  Directing the State Department to prioritize visa processing 
        resources to the embassies and consulates that have a high 
        demand for visas and historically facilitate the largest volume 
        of inbound international travel to the U.S. (through B1/B2 
        visas), including Mexico, Brazil, and India.

  (2)  Directing the State Department to restore U.S. visa processing 
        operations and lower wait-times to an average of 10 to 15 days 
        in the top countries for inbound travel to the U.S., including 
        Mexico, Brazil, and India.

  (3)  Enacting legislation to authorize the State Department to use 
        videoconferencing technology for visa interviews for renewals, 
        low-risk first time applicants, and visitors with time-
        sensitive travel needs. Videoconferencing technology has 
        advanced greatly in recent years and can now adequately serve 
        both the security and operational needs of the government, 
        while reducing the health risks associated with in-person 
        appointments

  (4)  Enacting legislation to authorize the State Department to 
        conduct group appointments for visa applicants seeking to visit 
        the U.S. to participate in large international conventions, 
        trade shows, meetings, or events.

  (5)  Authorize the State Department to extend all visitor visas for a 
        year or waive visa interview requirements for low-risk 
        applicants seeking a valid renewal. The Administration has 
        already waived visa interview requirements for some individuals 
        who held a valid visa within the last 48 months. Additional 
        consideration should be given to extend visa validity for other 
        low-risk renewal applicants, particularly for those presently 
        in the U.S.

  (6)  Direct the State Department to allow low-risk visa holders who 
        are currently in the U.S. to renew their visa while staying in 
        the U.S. Currently, many visa holders are required to exit the 
        country before renewing their visas, which adds inefficient and 
        unnecessary barriers to renewal and contributes to increased 
        wait-times abroad.

    Additional Workforce Needs. In May, the Labor Department reported a 
national unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. Yet, the number of available 
jobs has at times outpaced the available labor supply, with a number of 
hotels, restaurants, and other businesses tied to the tourism industry 
in Arizona reporting difficulties filling open positions.

    Question. What suggestions do you have to help the travel and 
hospitality sectors meet these workforce needs? Are there any 
additional actions Congress can take in this area?
    Answer. Like the rest of the economy, the Leisure and Hospitality 
sector is experiencing significant workforce shortages.
    Today, there are 1.5 million jobs open in the leisure and 
hospitality sector, which accounts for one-out-of-eight jobs open 
nationwide. For every 100 jobs that are open, there are only 48 
American looking for work.
    This shows that we don't just have a workforce participation 
problem, we have a workforce shortage. We are doing everything we can 
to attract American workers, like increasing pay and benefits. Average 
hourly earnings in our sector are now 20 percent above 2019 levels, 
which is 5 percent higher than the rest of the economy.
    We recommend taking two steps to help address workforce shortages:

  1.  Ensure robust funding for Department of Labor and Department of 
        Commerce grants towards workforce recruitment and 
        apprenticeships in the travel industry, including the:

     Department of Labor's Workforce Recruitment program.

     National Apprenticeship program

     Economic Development Administration's Economic 
            Adjustment Assistance Program.

  2.  Support expanded access to temporary work visas, especially the 
        H-2B and J-1 programs.

     Include language in the FY 2023 Homeland Security 
            Appropriations bill that directs the Department of Homeland 
            Security (DHS) to release all authorized H-2B visas in time 
            for the beginning of the summer season and to exempt 
            returning H-2B workers for the statutory cap.

     In the FY 2023 appropriations bills, include language 
            directing the Department of State and Department of 
            Homeland Security to reduce J-1 and H-2B visa processing 
            times in the top countries that provide these temporary 
            workers.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://j1visa.state.gov/basics/facts-and-figures/top-sending-
countries-2019/

     Sponsor and enact legislation similar to the ``H-2B 
            Returning Worker Exemption Act'' (H.R. 3897), which would 
            permanently increase H-2B visas by exempting returning 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            workers from the cap.

  3.  Enact comprehensive immigration reform.

     For every 100 jobs that are open, there are only 48 
            American looking for work. Comprehensive immigration reform 
            can strengthen the U.S. workforce and economy by providing 
            legal status for undocumented immigrants and expanding 
            access to temporary foreign workers.

     Since the workforce needs of the U.S. economy have 
            never been greater, it's time for Congress to pursue 
            bipartisan solutions for comprehensive immigration reform.

    Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. I am a proud cosponsor of 
bipartisan legislation S. 3375, the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. S. 
3375 includes a number of bipartisan bills to promote U.S. tourism. The 
bill also establishes an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and 
Tourism to coordinate with Commerce Department and other Federal 
agencies on U.S. domestic travel and tourism issues and develop 
strategies to enable more international travelers to visit the United 
States.

    Question. If enacted, how will the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act 
affect your members and the U.S. travel industry as a whole?
    Answer. Senator Sinema, thank you for your leadership on the 
Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act, which would strengthen the Commerce 
Department's role in coordinating Federal travel policies, set 
consistent national goals to boost travel exports, and develop clear 
strategies to achieve them.
    A key provision in the Act is the establishment of an Assistant 
Secretary for Travel and Tourism within the Department of Commerce. If 
the bill were enacted into law, the Assistant Secretary would help 
centralize decision making on a wide array of complex travel issues 
that must be urgently addressed, including how to streamline visa and 
visitor processes. We also commend the Act for exploring innovative 
ways to achieve ambitious international visitation goals, including by 
directing the Assistant Secretary to lead on promoting meetings, 
conferences, recreation, and other events to be hosted in the U.S.
    The Act also includes language directing the Secretary of Commerce 
to study the economic impacts of COVID-19 on America's travel industry, 
develop a recovery strategy, and set national visitation and spending 
goals for international travel. The bill also directs the Secretary of 
Commerce to develop a national travel and tourism strategy, including 
setting visitation and spending goals, on a consistent basis of no less 
than every 10 years, to ensure there are no lapses in Federal 
leadership on travel issues.
    A longer-term proposal that we strongly support is the One-Stop 
Security program. This would authorize the Transportation Security 
Administration (TSA) to conduct a pilot program at ten airports in 
which a traveler and their carry-on baggage would not need to be re-
screened upon arrival in the U.S. for their domestic connecting flight, 
if the last point of departure airport has an equivalent level of 
screening to the U.S. The One-Stop Security program would uphold the 
safety and security of the air travel system, while providing air 
travelers with much-needed efficiencies and a more seamless travel 
experience.

                                  [all]