[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 118 (Monday, June 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39895-39897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-14527]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[Docket No.: 160606495-6495-01]
RIN 0625-XC019


2016 Fee Schedule for National Travel and Tourism Office for the 
Advance Passenger Information System/I-92 Program, I-94 International 
Arrivals Program, and Survey of International Air Travelers Program

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of revised fee schedule.

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SUMMARY: Consistent with the guidelines in OMB Circular A-25,\1\ 
federal agencies are responsible for conducting a biennial review of 
all programs to determine the types of activities subject to user fees 
and the basis upon which user fees are to be set. The U.S. Department 
of Commerce, National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) is raising the 
fees for 2016 data for the monthly, quarterly and annual data from the 
Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)/I-92 Program, the I-94 
International Arrivals Program, and the annual custom reports, data 
tables or files from the Survey of International Air Travelers Program. 
The NTTO has been providing this data for a fee for many years and has 
developed a subscriber base for each of these programs. The 2016 fee 
schedules for each program are available on the NTTO Web site. The fees 
collected for these reports go to pay ITA costs to develop the reports 
as well as to support research for the continuation and expansion of 
improvements to the data provided by the NTTO. The revised fee schedule 
is effective immediately upon publication of this Notice.
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    \1\ https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a025.

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DATES: This fee schedule is effective June 20, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Champley at: (202) 482-4753, 
or [email protected]; or Claudia Wolfe at: (202) 482-4555, or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: Consistent with the guidelines in OMB Circular A-25, 
federal agencies are responsible for conducting a biennial review of 
all programs to determine the types of activities subject to user fees 
and the basis upon which user fees are to be set. The U.S. Department 
of Commerce, International Trade Administration (ITA), recently 
completed a biennial review and will be notifying the public, on a 
rolling basis, on the various ITA user fee adjustments.
    In addition to OMB Circular A-25, the NTTO follows OMB Circular A-
130, which mandates that federal agencies develop and maintain a 
comprehensive set of information management policies for use across the 
government, and to promote the application of information technology to 
improve the use and dissemination of information in the operation of 
Federal programs. The role of NTTO is to enhance the international 
competitiveness of the U.S. travel and tourism industry and increase 
its exports, thereby creating U.S. employment and economic growth. The 
primary functions of the NTTO are: (1) Management of the travel and 
tourism statistical system for assessing the economic contribution of 
the industry and providing the sole source for characteristic 
statistics on international travel to and from the United States; (2) 
design and administration of export expansion activities; (3) 
development and management of tourism policy, strategy and advocacy; 
and, (4) technical assistance for expanding this key export 
(international tourism) and assisting in domestic economic development. 
There are three main research programs in which the public may obtain 
additional data on the international travelers to and from the United 
States in addition to free information posted to the NTTO Web site. The 
revised 2016 fees are for the monthly, quarterly or annual data from 
the APIS/I-92 Program, the I-94 International Arrivals Program, and the 
annual custom reports, data tables or files from the Survey of 
International Air Travelers Program.
    The APIS/I-92 program is a joint effort between the Department of 
Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the NTTO to 
provide international air traffic statistics data to the government and 
the travel industry. The system is a source of data on all 
international flights to and from the United States, including flights 
with fewer than 10 passengers. It reports the total volume of air 
traffic and various subsets of traffic. A differentiating feature of 
the I-92 is that the I-92 reports the number of U.S. citizens vs. ``all 
other citizens.'' The information collected from this program has been 
based upon the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) since July 
2010. All carriers serving the United States must transmit APIS data 
(from their automated flight manifests) to CBP for each flight coming 
to or departing from the United States. Canada also is included in this 
program. The information collected provides non-stop point-to-point air 
traffic totals between the United States and all other countries and 
between U.S. and foreign airports. This information is further subset 
by the number of passengers on U.S. flag or foreign flag carriers. In 
addition, there is a breakout of scheduled or charter flight 
passengers. In the monthly, quarterly and annual I-92 reports, there 
are four sets of tables. The first three sets have an arrivals portion 
(Ia, IIa, and IIIa), as well as a departures section (Id, IId, and 
IIId). The fourth table is a summary of traffic by flag of carrier. To 
learn more about this program, go to: http://travel.trade.gov/research/programs/i92/index.asp. The current 2016 and historical fees (1990-
2015) for this program can be found at: http://travel.trade.gov/research/reports/i92/index.asp. Fees for APIS/I-92 products include a 5 
percent fee increase between 2015 and 2016.
    The I-94 International Arrivals Program is a core part of the U.S. 
travel and tourism statistical system. This program provides the U.S. 
government and the public with the official U.S. monthly and annual 
overseas visitor arrivals to the United States along with select 
Mexican and Canadian visitor statistics. The NTTO manages the program 
in cooperation with the CBP. The program collects and reports overseas 
non-U.S. resident visitor arrivals to the United States. U.S. 
government data consists of the DHS I-94 data, which non-U.S. citizens 
from overseas and Mexico must complete to enter the United States. All 
visitation data is processed by residency (world region and country), 
for total arrivals, type of visa, mode of transportation, age of 
traveler, address (state level only) while in the United States port of 
entry, and select percentage change comparisons year-over-year. The 
information is presented in a report entitled the Summary of 
International Travel to the United States with 35 tables including the 
categories above.

[[Page 39896]]

NTTO publishes arrivals data to its Web site on a monthly basis, and 
reports and custom reports or tables are available on a monthly, 
quarterly or annual basis. More information about this program is 
available at http://travel.trade.gov/research/programs/i94/index.asp. 
The current 2016 and historical fees (1992-2015) for this program can 
be found at: http://travel.trade.gov/research/reports/i94/index.html. 
Fees for I-94 products include a 5 percent fee increase between 2015 
and 2016.
    The Survey of International Air Travelers Program is a primary 
research program which gathers statistical data about air passenger 
travelers in U.S.--overseas and Mexican air markets (Canada is 
excluded). The program also serves as the cornerstone for NTTO's 
efforts to assist U.S. businesses to improve their competitiveness and 
effectiveness in the international travel market. The Survey is 
conducted on selected flights which have departed, or are about to 
depart, from the major U.S. international gateway airports. The Survey 
is administered either aboard flights or in the airport gate area, of 
the over 90 participating airlines (foreign and U.S.) departing 26 U.S. 
international gateways. The Survey data is ``weighted'' to census data. 
For example, non-resident inbound survey responses are weighted to the 
``100%'' population of DHS I-94 arrival records to adjust for over and 
under sampling. Resident outbound data is weighted based on DHS I-92 
U.S. departure data. Data are available on a quarterly and annual basis 
for either non-resident inbound or resident outbound. It can be 
delivered in a standard national report format or as a custom report, 
data table, or excel. Data files are also available. To learn more 
about this program, go to: http://travel.trade.gov/research/programs/ifs/index.asp. The current 2016 and historical fees (1983-2015) for 
this program can be found at: http://travel.trade.gov/research/reports/ifs/index.asp. When viewing the current fee structure for the SIAT 
reports, the tables will show there is no fee increase for the vast 
majority of the standard published reports and their corresponding 
Excel tables as there has not been for the last five years. The only 
reports or data for which the NTTO is revising the fees are shown 
below; the past fees are accessible through the above links.
    Fee Schedule increases for the APIS/I-92 program, the I-94 
International Arrivals Program and the Survey of International Air 
Travelers (SIAT) Program are shown in the tables below. All fees shown 
are 5 percent greater in 2016 than in 2015. For the I-94 program, the 
NTTO is eliminating the print files and will only provide a PDF and 
Excel file to save costs and provide an Excel version of the reports. 
For the SIAT, a majority of the reports offered will see no fee 
increase between 2015 and 2016. The custom reports, data tables and 
files see a 5 percent fee increase in 2016.

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                                                             2016 Fee
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APIS/I-92 Program:
    Monthly Reports printed.............................          $1,995
    Monthly Reports (PDF and Excel).....................           2,985
    Quarterly Reports printed...........................           1,800
    Quarterly Reports (PDF and Excel)...................           2,690
    Annual Report printed...............................           1,400
    Annual Report (PDF and Excel).......................           2,090
    Data Files, for internal use only...................          23,745
I-94 International Arrivals Program:
    Monthly Subscription (PDF and Excel)................           2,130
    Quarterly Subscription (PDF and Excel)..............           1,870
    Annual Issue (PDF and Excel)........................           1,290
    Annual, data file (CD-ROM)..........................          14,580
    Quarterly, data file (CD-ROM).......................          16,365
Combined 2015 and 2016 International I-94 Arrivals Data:
    Monthly Subscription (PDF and Excel)................           3,240
    Quarterly Subscription (PDF and Excel)..............           2,755
    Annual Issue (PDF and Excel)........................           1,740
Survey of International Air Travelers Program:
    CUSTOM TABLE--1st table, in Excel...................           2,365
    CUSTOM TABLE--all other tables in Excel.............           1,430
    Custom Reports with Excel and pdf (First banner)....           8,875
    Custom Reports with Excel and pdf (Second banner)...           7,985
    Custom Reports with Excel and pdf (Third + banners).           7,145
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Method for Determining Fees

    ITA collects, retains, and expends user fees pursuant to delegated 
authority under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act as 
authorized in its annual appropriations acts. For each program, NTTO 
has a set of subscribers who have been using this data, some for 
decades. Most rely upon this data as the only federal source to define 
the international travel market to this country and to their 
destination or for their sector.
    Fees are set taking into account the cost of providing this data. 
Most of the NTTO research is implemented using fixed price contracts. 
Within the contracts are built-in cost adjustments. The NTTO considers 
program cost changes due to the needed level of timeliness and other 
quality of service considerations as well as needed or actual 
improvements such as new report formats, more travelers surveyed, or 
other enhancements to the research data provided. The NTTO also 
generally considers the current demand for each program by comparing 
changes from one year to the next before setting fees.
    In adjusting its current fees, NTTO also considered the purchasing 
constraints experienced by current or potential subscribers (such as 
limits to purchase by credit card, or sole source/open bid 
requirements) and factored in the annual percentage change in the 
Consumer Price Index (used to determine rate of inflation).
    In the analysis of these fees, it was determined that the services 
provided offer special benefits to an identifiable recipient beyond 
those that accrue to the general public. The NTTO calculated the actual 
cost of providing its data services in order to provide a basis for 
setting each fee. Actual cost incorporates direct and indirect costs

[[Page 39897]]

(including operations and maintenance), overhead, and charges for the 
use of capital facilities. NTTO also took into account additional 
factors when pricing goods and services, including adequacy of cost 
recovery, affordability, available efficiencies, inflation, pricing 
history, fee elasticity considerations (including client ability to pay 
for NTTO data), and service delivery alternatives.

Conclusion

    Based on the information provided above, the NTTO believes its 
revised fees are consistent with the objective of OMB Circular A-25 to 
``promote efficient allocation of the nation's resources by 
establishing charges for special benefits provided to the recipient 
that are at least as great as the cost to the U.S. Government of 
providing the special benefits . . .'' OMB Circular A-25(5)(b).

    Dated: June 15, 2016.
Julie P. Heizer,
Deputy Director, National Travel & Tourism Office, U.S. Department of 
Commerce.
[FR Doc. 2016-14527 Filed 6-17-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P