[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 92 (Thursday, June 18, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S6758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRAVEL PROMOTION ACT

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

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