SECRETARY EVANS ANNOUNCES U.S. TRAVEL AND TOURISM BOARD
Board to Direct International Marketing Campaign to Bring Tourists Back to United States

Commerce Secretary Don Evans today announced the creation of the United States Travel and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board. The board will advise Secretary Evans on how best to increase the number of international visitors to the United States and ensure that the share of the country’s international receipts continues to grow.

“President Bush is committed to reviving international travel to the United States because of the number of Americans who rely on this industry for jobs and because travel and tourism goes far toward strengthening and enhancing our relationships with our friends and allies around the world,” said Evans. “This board represents talented and visionary experts in the U.S. travel and tourism industry and I am confident it will help us meet our goal of attracting more visitors to the United States and provide us guidance on how to better showcase the diversity of our nation’s peoples, heritage, culture and destinations with the international marketplace.”

The advisory board is comprised of 15 senior U.S. travel and tourism industry executives from across the Unites States. Nearly 130 candidates applied to be members of the board through a competitive process after a Federal Register notice was published. The selected members represent a bipartisan cross-section of the industry.

Earlier this year, President Bush approved a $50 million appropriation to create an international travel and tourism marketing and promotional campaign. The campaign will focus on four to six of the top markets that have historically sent travelers to the United States. The campaign will include market and evaluation research, consumer and trade advertising and promotional efforts focused on earned and unearned media. There also will be a matching grants program to support regional promotion efforts. The first meeting of the Board is scheduled for September 8, 2003 in New York City.

The U.S. travel and tourism industry is responsible for approximately 17 million direct and indirect travel-related jobs in the United States and is the fourth largest export for the U.S. economy. In 2002, travel and tourism to the United States generated $84 billion in exports.

“We’ve come along way since September 11, but much still needs to be done,” Evans continued. “This industry is a key economic generator so it is important that we continue to be aggressive in restoring international travel to the United States.”

For more information on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board, visit http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/about/us_promo_campaign/index.html.

*** NOTE: List of U.S. Travel and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board members is a separate attachment***