US tourism to get major boost from new legislation
Saturday, 15 Mar, 2010
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When the US starts actively marketing tourism in 2011 it will be the best opportunity the industry has had for at least 25 years.
So says Roger Dow, president of the US Travel Association, who made the prediction at ITB in Berlin following President Obama signing the Tourism Promotion Act in to law last week.
Controversially, it calls for a $10 fee for completing the necessary ESTA authorization for citizens of visa waiver countries to enter the US (see previous TravelMole story).
The fee – up to certain limits – will go to fund US tourism marketing.
Dow says there have been well over 16 million ESTA applications up to now and the rejection rate is well under one percent.
He denied seeing the new ESTA fee as a barrier to inbound tourism.
He predicted that the new tourism marketing spend is a ‘win, win’ situation bringing in an extra three million international visitors by 2012 and introducing them, through marketing, to parts of the country hardly touched by tourism.
Although airlines report passengers arriving without the authorisation, Dow is sure that arrangements can be made to complete the forms online at the airport as a last resort.
The first year’s budget of $10 million will come from the Departmnet of Commerce and is just to set up the new marketing organisation.
But Dow does not expect that the US will suddenly staff a legion of overses tourist offices.
The budget for the sesond year ending September 2011 is likely to be $150 million with – $100 million from ESTA and $50 million match funding from US private industry.
Dow wants this spent in the traditional way using representatives in market backed, for the first time, with advertising.
"Some people say we don’t have to advertiise the US as everyone knows it’s there but Coke and BMW still advertise when everyone knows about them and we’ll be doing the same for the US," he said.
Dow expects the new system to put the US in the top ten league for international tourism advertising.
The budget for 2011/12 will rise to $200 million.
Dow sees this not just as an advertising budget but as helping to deal with perceptions of the US as being unfrendly to visitors.
"With this budget we don’t just advertise but we can explain programs like ESTA and security and arrival issues and deal with problems like last year’s H1N1 virus."
by John Bell
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