The United States wants more visitors, but who should pay to promote its assets abroad? According to a new bill approved this week at the US Senate, travellers from overseas should chip in.
To finance the proposed Travel Promotion Act, tourists visiting the country under the visa waiver scheme will be asked to pay $10 when entering the country. This will include travellers from the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Australia and New Zealand.
"The Travel Promotion Act will attract visitors to America and improve our nation's image abroad, all while bettering our nation's economy," said the Senate's commerce committee chairman, Mr Daniel K Inouye. United States taxpayers have been assured that they will not bear the cost of supporting the act.
The United States has been suffering from a tourism downturn since the New York terrorist attacks in 2001. Visits to the US from countries outside Canada and Mexico totalled 21.7 million in 2006, down 17% from a peak of 26 million in 2000, according to commerce department figures. In the same period, cross-border travel around the world rose 20%.
A recent study from Oxford Economics said the US has lost $100 billion in visitor spending since 2000, along with almost 200,000 jobs.
The proposed Corporation for Travel Promotion, which would oversee the act, would comprise a 15-member board consisting of representatives of states, the federal government, higher education and the travel industry, the senate reported.
Aside from loans from the US Treasury to cover initial set-up fees, the promotional activities would be partially financed by the "user fee" imposed on travellers from overseas.
The act would also aim to clear up misperceptions about US travel policies.
British tourism also felt the after-effects of 2001. "That year, the combined impact on foot and mouth and the 9/11 attacks wiped of £1.5bn off revenue created by inbound tourism," says Visit Britain spokesman Elliot Frisby. "In 2002, we were given an extra £20m from government and £20m from industry to enable us to launch an ad campaign in seven countries that make our biggest markets, including the US."
Every year Visit Britain receives £35m of funds from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is supplemented by the commercial sector. "Our budget hasn't changed in 10 years so, in real terms, we have seen a fall in funding," says Mr Frisby.
Unlike many nations, the US has never had a coordinated, cross-country programme for self-promotion, instead each individual state's tourist board deals with its own campaigns.
