Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
issues. So after quietly accepting the status quo, the industry group switched their strategy
and lobbied hard to get the government back into promoting tourism. Top executives from
the Travel Business Roundtable, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the Air Transport Asso-
ciation and InterContinental Hotels Group, among others, appeared before Congress to
ask for help to combat the wave of negative feelings about visiting the U.S. with policies to
promote a positive image and win back foreign tourists.
Several members of Congress listened and wrote legislation to create an Office of
Travel Promotion within the Department of Commerce headed by an undersecretary for
travel promotion. The bill also would create a public-private promotion program run by a
board or representatives from industry, the states, the federal government, and higher edu-
cation. The program would not only advertise U.S. tourism to foreign audiences but also
“correct misperception overseas regarding U.S. travel policies.”
It still didn't work. The administration of President George W. Bush said no. In a letter
to Congress, a Bush administration official wrote that it “believes that tourism promotion
activities should be financed and undertaken by the private sector and, where they de-
sire, by states and local governments.” The administration also opposed any elevation of
tourism in the Commerce Department, saying that “travel and tourism sector issues are
already well served within (Commerce's) existing structure.”
Shortly after that rejection I met Freeman at his office and asked about his achieve-
ments after several years of trying to break through to the Bush administration. “Achieve-
ments—holding off the worst, trying to change the atmosphere from policing foreigners to
welcoming them,” he answered.
Isabel Hill, the deputy director of that small Office of Travel and Tourism Industries
within the Commerce Department, said she could understand why the tourist industry is
concerned. But, she said, the tide did begin to turn, slightly, in 2007, when revenue from
tourism returned to pre-September 11 levels of $1.2 trillion.
Hill told me that the 2007 letter rejecting the tourism bill meant that her office had
no mandate for marketing or promoting the United States to foreign tourists through a na-
tional tourism website or even information from U.S. embassies overseas. “I'm not against
the idea,” she said. “Personally, I see the case for a brand advertising campaign. There is
also a case to be made for the administration's position.”
As part of its retrenching, the industry took stock of where it stood. In a report called
“The Lost Decade” that essentially covered the Bush administration, from 2000 through
the end of 2008, the U.S. travel and tourism industry had lost 68 million visitors; $509 bil-
lion in spending revenue; 441,000 jobs; $270 billion in trade surplus and $32 billion in
tax revenue.
Then in 2009, Barack Obama, a Democrat, was inaugurated as president. At first, the
industry was disappointed with the new president and his response to the 2008 recession.
His stimulus package failed to mention their industry and suggested cutting back on busi-
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