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1 1 (December 14, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govcgyr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E~$~ & December 14, 2017 Brand USA: Congressional Appropriators and Administration Disagree on Funding Cuts for U.S. Tourism Promotion The Trump Administration's FY2018 budget proposed eliminating the government's annual grant to Brand USA, a public-private effort to promote the United States as a travel destination for foreign visitors, and using the money instead for homeland security. That proposal has not been adopted by Congress, in part because specific authorizing legislation would be required to effect this change. As a result, neither the House-passed nor Senate Appropriations Committee draft of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill for FY2018 assumes these resources would be available for other purposes. However, Brand USA remains controversial, with some critics asserting that promotion of tourism should be left to the private sector, and it is possible the Administration will again recommend ending its federal grant when the FY2019 budget is released in February. Over 75.5 million foreign visitors traveled to the United States in 2016, spending nearly $245 billion on hotels, meals, flights aboard U.S. air carriers, and other goods and services. America's travel and tourism industry directly and indirectly supported 7.6 million American jobs in 2016, of which 1.2 million were supported by international visitors, according to an estimate by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Unlike many countries, the United States does not have a central agency to oversee travel and tourism. The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) within the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce is the federal government's central point of contact for travel and tourism. Its main purpose is to provide official tourism statistics and research. NTTO is also responsible for coordinating the federal government's activities in support of the U.S. travel and tourism industry through the interagency Tourism Policy Council established in the United States National Tourism Organization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-288). A private-sector group, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, also offers guidance to federal agencies on issues of importance to them, including travel facilitation and visa policy. ,, USA Brand USA, formally known as the Corporation for Travel Promotion, was established under the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (TPA; P.L. 111-145). It began operations in May 2011 as a nonprofit public-private entity charged with promoting international travel and tourism to all areas of the United States and communicating U.S. visa and entry policies to overseas visitors. NTTO is the federal government's liaison to Brand USA, but the government is not represented on the organization's 11-member board of directors. The private sector funds half of Brand USA's spending through annual cash contributions of at least 30% of its budget plus in-kind contributions, such as advertising, tickets, and donated products. The federal government matches the cash and in-kind contributions with an annual grant of no more than $100 million. The funds for this grant come from a fee charged for use of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which is required of international travelers who visit the United States for short business or leisure stays from the 38 countries participating in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Each traveler from a visa waiver program country who uses ESTA is charged a $14 fee, which consists of two parts: $10 is available to fund travel promotion through Brand USA, and $4 is used to cover the DHS's costs of screening visa waiver program applicants. The $10 travel promotion fee generated nearly $150 million in 2016. Of this amount, $100 million, less the $7 million sequester required under the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25) for FY2017, went to Brand USA, and the remainder was directed to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction purposes. Under current law, the travel promotion fee is to sunset on September 30, 2020. Brand USA's travel promotion and marketing campaigns include television, print, Internet, and social media advertisements, as well as promotional events such as hosting travel agents from other countries. Its promotional efforts are focused on 14 target markets, which together account for more than 80% of inbound tourist travel. These markets include Brazil, Canada, Mexico, China, and Korea. Figure I. International Visitors to the United States, Selected Countries 1. ........ ¢ ................ ., ......2?2z ....... ?? ::.. z ...z i .... i.zz . .) .. 2 Source: NTTO, accessed December 2017. NTTO figures show that the number of international arrivals fell between 2012 and 2016 from several of Brand USA's target markets, including Canada, Brazil, and Japan, with the volume of visitors down 15%, 6%, and 3%, respectively. During the same period, the number of Chinese visiting the United States almost doubled to 3 million annually. China, a high-growth market, has become a more important source of visitors than France, Australia, and Germany. Another growing target market is South Korea; the number of South Korean visitors traveling to the United States rose to 2 million in 2016, up from roughly 1.3 million in 2012 (see Figure 1). gognpo goo g , q 'M a X 11LULANJILiN,

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