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82–192 2013

VACATION NATION: HOW TOURISM BENEFITS OUR 

ECONOMY 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, 

AND TRADE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MAY 7, 2013 

Serial No. 113–39 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

Chairman 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

Chairman Emeritus 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

Vice Chairman 

PHIL GINGREY, Georgia 

STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana 

ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio 

CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey 

BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

MIKE POMPEO, Kansas 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

BILL JOHNSON, Missouri 

BILLY LONG, Missouri 

RENEE L. ELLMERS, North Carolina 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

Ranking Member 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

Chairman Emeritus 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

JIM MATHESON, Utah 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

JOHN BARROW, Georgia 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, Virgin Islands 

KATHY CASTOR, Florida 

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa 

PETER WELCH, Vermont 

BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico 

PAUL TONKO, New York 

(III) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, AND TRADE

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

Chairman 

LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey 

Vice Chairman 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

DAVE B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia 

MIKE POMPEO, Kansas 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

BILL JOHNSON, Missouri 

BILLY LONG, Missouri 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

FRED UPTON, Michigan, ex officio 

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

Ranking Member 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

PETER WELCH, Vermont 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

JIM MATHESON, Utah 

JOHN BARROW, Georgia 

DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, Virgin Islands 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California, ex officio 

(V) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hon. Lee Terry, a Representative in Congress from the State of Nebraska, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 

Hon. Janice D. Schakowsky, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Illinois, opening statement .............................................................................. 3 

Hon. Donna M. Christensen, A Representative in Congress from the Virgin 

Islands, opening statement ................................................................................. 4 

Hon. Leonard Lance, a Representative in Congress from the State of New 

Jersey, opening statement ................................................................................... 5 

Hon. Gus M. Bilirakis, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, opening statement ........................................................................................ 6 

Hon. Billy Long, a Representative in Congress from the State of Missouri, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 6 

Hon. Henry A. Waxman, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

California, opening statement ............................................................................. 7 

WITNESSES

Roger Dow, President and CEO, U.S. Travel Association .................................... 9 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 

Kathleen Matthews, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Communications and Public Affairs Officer, Marriott International, Inc. .......................... 17 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20 

Brian D. Rothery, Assistant Vice President of Government Affairs, Enterprise 

Holdings, Inc. ........................................................................................................ 26 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 

Lori Gaytan, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Intercontinental 

Hotels Group ........................................................................................................ 42 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 

Hudson Riehle, Senior Vice President, Research and Knowledge Group, National Restaurant Association ............................................................................. 50 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 52 

J. William Seccombe, President and Chief Executive Officer, Visit Florida ....... 69 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 72 

Sharon Zadra, Board Member, Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, Councilwoman, City of Reno, Nevada .......................................................... 76 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 78 

Gina Speckman, Executive Director, Chicago’s North Shore Convention and 

Visitors Bureau .................................................................................................... 85 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 87 

Ralph Witsell, Executive Director, Discover Torrance Visitors Bureau .............. 91 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 93 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 116 

Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner, U.S. Virgin Islands Department of 

Tourism ................................................................................................................. 96 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 98 

SUBMITTED MATERIAL

Letter of May 6, 2013, from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to Mrs. Blackburn ...................................................................................... 111 

Statement of the American Motorcyclist Association, submitted by Mr. Terry . 114 

(1) 

VACATION NATION: HOW TOURISM BENEFITS 

OUR ECONOMY 

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, AND

TRADE, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:32 a.m., in room 

2322, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lee Terry (chairman of 

the subcommittee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Terry, Lance, Blackburn, Harper, Bilirakis, Long, Schakowsky, Butterfield, Sarbanes, Matheson, Barrow, 

Christensen, and Waxman (ex officio). 

Staff Present: Kirby Howard, Legislative Clerk; Nick Magallanes, 

Policy Coordinator, CMT; Brian McCullough, Senior Professional 

Staff Member, CMT; Gib Mullan, Chief Counsel, CMT; Andrew 

Powaleny, Deputy Press Secretary; Shannon Weinberg Taylor, 

Counsel, CMT; Michelle Ash, Minority Chief Counsel; and William 

Wallace, Minority Professional Staff Member. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LEE TERRY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA 

Mr. TERRY. All right, I think we are ready to start. 

Thank you all for being here. Good morning, and welcome to this 

morning’s hearing of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade 

Subcommittee. 

And I am pleased to say that today we will be hearing from two 

stellar panels, one composed of the private-sector leaders and another composed of local and State leaders charged with promoting 

tourism within their communities. Both groups will be able to offer 

their firsthand knowledge of the importance of tourism to our economy and why Congress should be paying attention to this industry 

and finding ways to promote its growth. 

The travel and tourism industry provides good middle-class domestic jobs almost by definition that can’t be outsourced. According 

to Marriott’s testimony, a new hotel opening can generate 1,000 

permanent new jobs. For every five new hotel rooms they build, 

three American jobs are created. This does not take into account 

construction jobs or other indirect jobs that go into the building 

and maintenance of the property. 

The U.S. Travel Association will describe similar statistics. For 

every 33 travelers who visit the U.S. from abroad, one U.S. job is 

created, they claim. And as if these numbers aren’t convincing 

2 

enough, we will also hear from the restaurants about how their 

members employ 13.1 million Americans thanks in large part to 25 

percent of their sales coming from the travel and tourism dollars. 

These numbers are impressive. And as someone who once worked 

in the service industry at an amusement park and in restaurants, 

I can attest that the jobs created when restaurants, hotels, and 

amusement parks grow are good, honest-paying jobs that can help 

our young people find work and perhaps open their eyes to a career 

of unlimited growth. 

What is not impressive and what I am concerned with is the current status of the U.S. when it comes to competing for foreign travelers. In 2000, the U.S. had 17 percent of the worldwide market for 

tourism. Today, we are somewhere around 13 percent. Why has 

there been a decrease? The average overseas traveler that visits 

the U.S. spends around $4,500 and 18 nights per trip, though we 

are getting fewer of these travelers to visit the U.S. 

In 2010, Congress passed and the President signed into law the 

Travel Promotion Act. This law, among other things, authorized 

the public-private corporation known as Brand USA. While Brand 

USA is not the main subject of today’s hearing, I can say with a 

high level of certainty that it will be the subject of a future hearing. Now, however, as many Brand board members and supporters 

are sitting before us today, I would like to hear specifically in dollars and cents how you think Brand USA has helped your businesses and, by extension, our economy. 

I would also like to hear from the local tourism directors what 

role the Federal Government has in this type of program, given 

that Visit Florida alone plans on spending $63.5 million in fiscal 

year 2013–2014 on travel promotion. 

So thank you to this panel and our next panel for traveling to 

Washington, D.C., spending a night in a hotel, hopefully, and 

spending some money in our restaurants. I look forward to your 

testimonies and now yield the remaining minute to the gentlelady 

from Tennessee. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Terry follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. LEE TERRY

Good morning and welcome to this morning’s hearing of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee. I am pleased to say that today we will be hearing 

from two stellar panels-one composed of private sector leaders and another composed of local and state leaders charged with promoting tourism within their communities. Both groups will be able to offer firsthand knowledge of the importance 

of tourism to our economy and why Congress should be paying attention to this industry and finding ways to promote its growth. 

The travel and tourism industry provides good, middle-class, domestic jobs that, 

almost by definition, cannot be outsourced. According to Marriot’s testimony, a new 

hotel opening can generate almost 1,000 permanent new jobs, and for every five new 

hotel rooms they build, three American jobs are created. This does not take into account construction jobs and other indirect jobs that go into the building and maintenance of the property. The U.S Travel Association will describe a similar statistic— 

for every 33 travelers who visit the U.S. from abroad, one U.S. job is created, they 

claim. And as if these numbers aren’t convincing enough, we’ll also hear from the 

restaurants about how their members employ 13.1 million Americans -thanks in 

large part to 25 percent of their sales coming from travel and tourism dollars. 

These numbers are impressive. And as someone who once worked in the service 

industry—both at an amusement park and in a restaurant—I can attest that the 

jobs created when restaurants, hotels and amusement parks grow are good, honest, 

3 

paying jobs that can help our young people get to work and perhaps open their eyes 

to a career with unlimited growth. 

What is not impressive, and what I am concerned with, is the current status of 

the U.S. when it comes to competing for foreign travelers. In 2000, the U.S. had 

17 percent of the worldwide market for tourism. Today we are somewhere around 

13 percent. Why has there been a decrease? The average overseas traveler that visits the U.S. spends around $4,500 and 18 nights per trip-but we are getting fewer 

of these travelers to visit us. 

In 2010, Congress passed and the president signed into the law the Travel Promotion Act. This law, among other things, authorized a public-private corporation 

now known as Brand USA. While Brand USA is not the main subject of today’s 

hearing, I can say with a high level of certainty that it will be the subject of a future 

hearing. However, many of Brand’s board members and supporters are sitting before us today, and I would like to hear, specifically, in dollars and cents, how you 

think Brand USA has helped your business, and by extension, our economy. I would 

also like to hear from the local tourism directors what role the federal government 

has in this type of program, given that Visit Florida alone plans on spending $63.5 

million in FY2013–2014 on travel promotion. 

# # # 

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the chairman for yielding. 

And I tell you, in Tennessee, we are pleased with what happens 

with our tourism industry. 

And, Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the 

record a statement from the Tennessee Department of Tourism 

commissioner, Susan Whitaker. 

Mr. TERRY. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Mrs. BLACKBURN. And Commissioner Whitaker oversees a $15.36 

billion industry in our State, employs 143,000 Tennesseeans, and 

she is a true travel professional. We appreciate her good work. 

And I yield back. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

I will yield back the last 44 seconds and now recognize the ranking member of the committee, Jan Schakowsky. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for 

yielding and for holding this important hearing. 

I welcome all our witnesses and look forward to hearing from 

them, for me especially Ms. Speckman, who I am glad is here today 

representing Chicago’s North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau. Happens to be my home area. 

Travel and tourism play a major role in our country’s economy, 

with almost 8 million Americans in jobs tied to the tourism industry. It is important to determine how well the United States is 

doing in comparison to other countries in attracting foreign visitors. It is also important that we evaluate best practices in attracting visitors, both foreign and domestic, to different locations around 

the country. We can learn a lot from our panelists about what 

strategies are working and how they can be implemented. 

Promoting travel and tourism is a national priority, and the 

House has worked in a bipartisan effort to promote the industry. 

The Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which established a nonprofit 

4 

corporation to promote travel to the United States and of which I 

was a cosponsor, is just the most recent example. 

Last year, President Obama brought our national effort a step 

further by designating a task force on travel and competitiveness, 

which outlined a strategy to attract more foreign travel. The strategy included coordinated promotion of the United States as a destination of choice, efficiency measures to facilitate easier travel to 

and from the U.S., enhanced customer service, and performancebased measurements. It is a strong guiding document to help facilitate increased travel and tourism to the United States. 

From the greatest city in the world—that would be Chicago—to 

the home of Abe Lincoln, to abundant activities in the great outdoors, my home State of Illinois has something for everyone. The 

State is actively engaged in advertising efforts to attract new visitors, and it has made planning Illinois travel easy with the 

EnjoyIllinois.com Web site. By ranking in the top 10 States for 

both domestic and international travel and with $32 billion spent 

by visitors to Illinois in 2011, the effort to attract travel and tourism is paying off. My district has benefited significantly from the 

travel and tourism industry, and I look forward to hearing from 

Ms. Speckman about what has made Illinois and the North Shore 

so successful in attracting visitors. 

I look forward to learning from the expertise of our witnesses 

and leveraging their insight in order to enhance national, regional, 

and local tourism. 

And I will yield the remainder of my time to Dr. Christensen. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you for yielding. 

And thank you, Chairman Terry and Ranking Member 

Schakowsky, for holding this hearing on the important role that 

tourism plays in the U.S. economy. And it gives me a chance to 

highlight the role it plays in the economy of my district, the U.S. 

Virgin Islands. 

Whether it is because of a natural or financial disaster, many of 

the districts we represent are economically challenged. This sequester is only exacerbating this crisis. Fortunately, tourism, with some 

minor ups and downs, like health care, has been what has continued to create jobs and keep many of us afloat. 

Today, it gives me great pleasure to introduce an individual who 

can outline the importance of this sector to our community and the 

person who with excellence and passion leads our Department of 

Tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And she will be on the second 

panel, but let me just say a few words about Beverly NicholsonDoty, who was appointed our commissioner of tourism in 2007. 

Earlier in her career, Commissioner Nicholson-Doty served as 

the executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, and she was the president of the USVI Hotel and 

Tourism Association in 2004. I had the pleasure of being at the 

meeting when Mrs. Nicholson-Doty was elected the chairwoman of 

the Caribbean Tourism Council of Ministers and Commissioners in 

2012. 

5 

Under her direction, the U.S. Virgin Islands has experienced 

noteworthy growth in airline and cruise industry travel, including 

the return of the cruise industry to St. Croix. And under her leadership, we have seen our tourism product improve to meet the 

changing demands and to remain competitive. I am happy that she 

is here with us today to share her insight and experience in the 

tourism industry. 

I have is a lot more to say, but I will save it for my 5 minutes. 

So let me welcome all of our witnesses here this morning and yield 

back my time. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I yield back the remaining unless there is— 

OK. I yield back my time. Thank you. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. Thank you. 

At this time, I will yield to the gentleman 1 or 2 minutes, Lance, 

Leonard. 

Mr. LANCE. One and a half. 

Mr. TERRY. One and a half minutes to the gentleman from New 

Jersey, the vice chairman of this subcommittee. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LEONARD LANCE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY 

Mr. LANCE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Tourism is one of the top job- and revenue-yielding industries in 

this country. And it certainly has a large economic impact in New 

Jersey, which attracts tourists for work and play to rural and 

urban settings alike. Whether for sports events in the 

Meadowlands in northern New Jersey—and the Super Bowl will be 

held there next winter—Federal area history in central New Jersey, places including the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton, important in our Nation’s history, or agricultural venues 

throughout the State, there has been tremendous growth in the 

volume of visitors and in the size of their economic impact. The industry generates $17.8 billion in consumer spending in New Jersey 

and directly supports over 150,000 jobs. 

Many will recall the JetStar, a much-beloved roller coaster at the 

New Jersey shore in the town of Seaside Heights which became 

iconic of damage from Superstorm Sandy when it was submerged 

into the Atlantic Ocean last October. Despite Sandy, New Jersey 

experienced a record-setting year, and we hope for an even better 

year this year. 

Concerns within New Jersey’s tourism industry are familiar to 

other States, as well. Struggles over seasonal or part-time worker 

coverage within the Affordable Care Act make it difficult to forecast business expenditures. Tax uncertainty causes confusion for 

those who own small businesses, and I know Congress is working 

on that in a bipartisan capacity this year. Just last year, 2012, the U.S. recorded a $45 billion trade surplus 

for travel and tourism, and international visitors spent an enormous amount of money here in this country. Bringing more tourists 

to the United States will improve those figures and boost employment. 

We owe our tourism-supported businesses clarity in regulatory 

matters so they can focus on doing their job and bringing revenue 

6 

streams into their communities. And, certainly, I welcome all visitors, domestic and foreign, to this country and, indeed, to New Jersey. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

And I now recognize the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bilirakis, 

for his minute and a half. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GUS M. BILIRAKIS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it very 

much. Thank you for holding this hearing. 

From my perspective as a Floridian, this is an excellent hearing 

topic. Florida is a global hub for commerce and travel, and the 

State is an exceptional attraction for tourism. Whether you would 

like to enjoy a nice walk on the beach, some sunshine, some excellent seafood, spectacular nature and wildlife, roller coasters, or professional sporting events, Florida has something entertaining and 

relaxing for everyone. 

Tourism is the lifeblood of the Florida economy. More than 1 million Floridians are directly employed by the tourism industry. 

Throughout our entire country, one out of every eight American 

jobs depends on travel and tourism. Last year, international travelers to the United States spent more than $128 billion. Increased 

tourism means more for America and for Floridians—more jobs for 

Americans and Floridians. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the economic importance of tourism and how we can support it. In particular, I welcome Mr. William Seccombe to subcommittee. Mr. 

Seccombe serves as the president and CEO of Visit Florida, the 

State of Florida’s official not-for-profit tourism marketing corporation. Visit Florida serves as Florida’s source for travel planning to 

visitors from across the globe. And I look forward to his testimony, 

of course, his presentation before this committee. 

And I thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my 

time. 

Mr. TERRY. Perfectly timed. 

And now the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Long, is recognized 

for your minute and a half. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILLY LONG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI 

Mr. LONG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And it is indeed an honor to have you all here today and talking 

about tourism in the United States. And, particularly, I want to 

talk about tourism in my district, and that being Springfield, 

Branson, and Joplin, Missouri, the southwest corner of the State. 

And there was a lady named Herschend, that her and her family 

found a little cave, a marble cave down just south of us, oh, probably 30 miles, back in the late 1950s and developed the cave, felt 

people would like to take tours of this cave. And then they decided, 

well, maybe they will build a little theme park, an 1880s theme 

park around it, and that grew up into Silver Dollar City. And now 

they just announced a year ago that they are going to build the 

7 

world’s largest wooden roller coaster with the steepest drop, 81-degree drop, 3 inversions. 

When they announced that, to tell you the impact of tourism in 

this country and internationally, when they announced that, in Europe, they had people from Europe literally that bought plane tickets, came over, got hotel rooms, and rode the little train around Silver Dollar City where I used to ride with my grandmother. I loved 

it when they would hold her up on the train and rob her. But—— 

Mr. TERRY. In 1880. 

Mr. LONG. Do you all hear static in the background? 

But now those people came just to see where this was going to 

be built, this large wooden roller coaster. 

From that, I would also tell you that my hometown is Springfield, Missouri, where a young college kid had a dream of putting 

a few fishing lures in the back of one of his dad’s brown derby 

stores, and said, ‘‘Dad, I think we can sell discount tackle.’’ That 

has grown into Bass Pro Shops, which is headquartered in Springfield. Drew over 7 million visitors to Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, 

Missouri, last year, and 1.9 million to Silver Dollar City, not to 

mention all the folks in Branson, which is the leading tourist destination in the United States, in my opinion anyway. 

I rest my case. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Mr. Long. 

Now I recognize the ranking chairman of the full committee, Mr. 

Henry Waxman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Mr. WAXMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I am pleased you are holding this hearing on tourism in the 

United States. And I especially thank you for inviting Ralph 

Witsell of the Discover Torrance Visitors Bureau to testify on the 

second panel. 

Discover Torrance has worked diligently to promote Torrance, 

California, and the broader beach cities, South Bay region, including Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan Beaches as an attractive location for both leisure travel and business conferences. These communities have stunning views, exhilarating water sports, and incredible restaurants, and they provide affordable lodging with access to two major airports and attractions throughout the Los Angeles area. 

Today, travel and tourism is one of our Nation’s top service industries. According to the Department of Commerce, over 7 million 

people are employed in jobs related to tourism. These jobs won’t 

move offshore, and they often provide Americans with significant 

opportunity for advancement. 

My home State of California is a major tourist destination for 

Americans from all over the country and is the transpacific travel 

gateway. The tourism and hospitality industry is an indispensable 

source of jobs and revenue, particularly in Los Angeles, which welcomed a record 41.4 million visitors in 2012. The congressional district I am proud to represent in Los Angeles is the home of worldclass tourist destinations like Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, and the 

8 

Santa Monica Pier. My district also has lesser-known but wonderful destinations like the Conejo Valley. And I applaud the city of 

Agoura Hills for joining with Thousand Oaks to establish a tourism 

initiative to attract more travelers to this beautiful region. 

President Obama demonstrated he understands the value of 

tourism promotion. One year ago, the administration released a national travel and tourism strategy that created a blueprint for effective Federal, State, local, and industry coordination to promote 

travel to locations nationwide. 

This strategy, along with other efforts, has had an impact, particularly attracting greater numbers of international visitors, who 

tend to travel for a longer period of time and put more money into 

the economy. Just yesterday, the Department of Commerce released data showing that international visitors contributed $43 billion to the U.S. economy in the first quarter of 2013, which is an 

increase of nearly 3 percent when compared to last year. 

I have long advocated for a national tourism strategy that works 

for both internationally known attractions like Rodeo Drive and 

those that are lesser known like the pristine beaches of the South 

Bay. I also support efforts to ensure travelers have a positive experience throughout their trip, whether renting a car or booking a 

hotel room or dealing with government entities like TSA and the 

National Park Service. 

It is these insights in hearings like this that will enable us to 

better understand tourism promotion so that we can work together 

to maintain strong growth in travel and tourism industries. I look 

forward to all the witnesses’ testimony and to our discussion at this 

hearing. 

I just have to say, unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, there is another 

hearing going on in another subcommittee on energy policy that I 

also must attend, so I’ll be back and forth. But I thank you for 

holding this hearing. It’s an important one. And I am glad all of 

our witnesses are here today. 

Whether you are hearing about California, which is the primary, 

wonderful destination for people all over the country or the world, 

or Chicago, which is called the second city for good reason, all of 

us represent places you all want to see and visit and spend a lot 

of money. 

Thank you. 

Mr. TERRY. Then Omaha must be the third city. And we are very 

proud of our pristine sandbars along the Missouri. 

At this time, I am going to introduce our first panel. We have 

Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel Association; Kathleen Matthews, executive vice president and chief of global communications and public affairs for Marriott International; Brian 

Rothery, assistant vice president, government affairs, for Enterprise Holdings; Lori Gaytan, senior vice president, Americas HR 

and global reward, InterContinental Hotels Group—thank you; and 

Hudson Riehle, senior vice president, Research and Knowledge 

Group, National Restaurant Association. 

And some of you are familiar with this process. Each of you will 

get 5 minutes. We will go from Mr. Dow to Mr. Riehle. You have 

a light in front of you. When you see the yellow, that means think 

about your conclusion. 

9 

So, Mr. Dow, we appreciate your testimony. You are recognized 

for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENTS OF ROGER DOW, PRESIDENT AND CEO, U.S. 

TRAVEL ASSOCIATION; KATHLEEN MATTHEWS, EXECUTIVE 

VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS 

AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER, MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC.; BRIAN D. ROTHERY, ASSISTANT VICE 

PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, ENTERPRISE HOLDINGS, INC.; LORI GAYTAN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF 

HUMAN RESOURCES, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP; 

AND HUDSON RIEHLE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH 

AND KNOWLEDGE GROUP, NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION 

STATEMENT OF ROGER DOW 

Mr. DOW. Thank you very much, Chairman Terry. 

I have to say this panel is extraordinarily well-versed in the 

facts. I could just leave right now because you have covered all the 

pertinent facts, but maybe I could add a little color. I have had the 

opportunity, I grew up in your State, and I have lived in six of your 

States, thanks to this great industry. So it is terrific to be here. 

U.S. Travel is the nonprofit organization that represents all of 

the travel industry. I had the pleasure of testifying before this subcommittee last year on the economic impact, and I return with 

some good news. 

You have stated the numbers extremely well. We are $885 billion 

to the U.S. economy of people that get their paychecks from folks 

like this, but another $1.2 trillion when you think about all the 

people that make the vans and the signs and the flowers, et cetera; 

$120 billion in taxes. So we are kind of a darling of the economy. 

When you look at, just as you said, jobs, Mr. Long, one in eight 

jobs—and in Florida you have talked about jobs, how important 

they are. And we are in the top 10 employers in all 48 States, territories, and the District of Columbia—two states not, but 48 of the 

States. And that is terrific. 

And I want to talk about one of the more lucrative sectors, and 

that is overseas travel. Thirty million overseas visitors came to the 

U.S. last year. They stay longer, 18 nights on average. They spend 

more, $4,500 per person. And as you stated, every plane that lands, 

33 of them add 1 new American job that can’t be outsourced 

We have been a very resilient group, restoring 85 percent of the 

jobs lost in the downturn versus the rest of the economy, 69 percent, and being the number-one service export, with $160 billion to 

the U.S. economy. So every 1 percent that we improve adds another $1.6 billion that wasn’t here. These folks leave their money, 

and they go home. It is a wonderful thing for our economy. 

Department of Commerce just said—their numbers are released—we are growing three times faster than all other industries. And enormous potential. You talked about 17 percent share 

13 years ago in 2000; now 13 percent. So it just shows the opportunity. 

I come with some good news today. First of all, Brand USA, 

thanks to the support of so many of you, was enacted from the 

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Travel Promotion Act, which 3 years ago passed. And Brand USA 

promotes the U.S. as a destination. It levels the playing field. The 

gentlemen from California and Florida are blessed with huge budgets to promote, but so many other States aren’t, and territories. 

And this gives an opportunity to level the playing field across 

America, and I think that is one of the important roles. 

And even for Florida and California, until people decide to come 

to the U.S., their dollars don’t go very far. So this Brand USA does 

a great job of getting people to understand U.S. Just starting out, 

Brand USA has done a tremendous job of improving that important 

statistic of intent to travel here, double digits. In the countries 

where they are promoting, double digits intend to come to the U.S. 

So it is going to be is a huge opportunity. And, as you all know, 

not one penny of taxpayer funds fund Brand USA. 

The second thing is the visa wait times, a lot of good things have 

happened. State Department has driven down the visa wait times 

by 90 percent. It used to be over a 100 days to get a visa interview 

in China and Brazil. It is now under 10 days and actually about 

5 days. 

Adding visa-waiver countries, we went from 27 to now 37, with 

Taiwan being added in as the 37th visa-waiver country in November. And those countries do a tremendous amount already improving travel. When South Korea went to the visa-waiver program, in 

the last 3 years, South Korea is up 63 percent—1.2 million visitors, 

$4.2 billion, 34,000 jobs. 

And there is legislation before you all, and one of my colleagues 

will talk a little more about that, the JOLT Act, which is very important to keeping these wait times down, adding visa-waiver countries from low-risk countries like Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Poland, 

very important to your area, and Israel, so very important. It is 

also important that that JOLT Act asks to test secure 

videoconferencing for interviews in many remote areas. So we have 

37 cosponsors on the JOLT Act. I hope those that are not cosponsoring will do so. 

But all this goes for naught if we don’t do a better job of getting 

people into the country through customs. We have got this funnel 

that we built here, and Customs and Border Protection are operating as best they can with the resources they have, but they are 

resource-constrained. To me, it is just like having two cashiers at 

Costco on a Christmas holiday or during the holidays that just 

can’t make it happen. 

So there is legislation in the budget—the budget has been presented—for 1,200 new CBP officers, and the Immigration Act asks 

for 3,500. And we need those at our southern borders but also at 

our airports that are very important. People tell us they are avoiding the United States because of the fact it is difficult to get 

through customs, a 4-hour wait sometimes, which is just inexcusable and drives people to other destinations. 

Lastly, business travel is robust. For every dollar—we just did a 

research study, came out today. Every dollar spent in business 

travel yields over $12 in revenue and almost $3 in profit. Those 

companies that travel more get more business, simple as that. 

And I ask you, when we think about the government travel, that 

we really think about not having excess but important travel and 

11 

keeping that measure of what is the right travel, where does it add 

value. And that would be very important. 

I thank you for the chance to testify, and I appreciate all you do 

to support this industry. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Dow follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. At this time, we now recognize Ms. Matthews. 

STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN MATTHEWS 

Ms. MATTHEWS. Chairman Terry, Congresswoman Schakowsky, 

members of the subcommittee, thanks very much for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my company, Marriott International, 

and also our industry. 

Marriott, as you may know, is a global hotel chain of 3,800 hotels, 3,200 of which are here in the United States, where we got 

our start as a company 85 years ago. We operate in all 50 States, 

including many of your districts, and I hope we have had a chance 

to host you at one of our hotels over the years. 

Our company, I think, is a really good example of the American 

dream. We started in 1927 as a nine-seat root beer stand not far 

from here on 14th Street NW. This was the dream of our founders, 

a young couple, J. Willard Marriott and his wife, Alice Marriott. 

They traveled from Utah across the country in a Model T Ford. 

That root beer stand became a chain of restaurants known as the 

Hot Shoppes. And 30 years after they had begun, they opened up 

their first Marriott hotel, also here, just across the river on 14th 

Street—across the 14th Street Bridge in northern Virginia. That 

was the first Marriott hotel. And it was right near what was called 

Hoover Field, which is now Reagan International Airport. 

Today, we employ 325,000 people at our managed and franchise 

hotels. These are across 14 different brands that range from RitzCarlton at the top end all the way down to Fairfield Inn at the 

budget category but include Renaissance, Courtyards, and Marriotts. 

We are proud to be part of the economic growth that Roger Dow 

has just talked about, especially during this economic downturn 

that we have just been coming out of. And as a company, beyond 

our profits, we also have a company purpose, and that is to open 

doors to a world of opportunity. Our number-one core value as a 

company is to put people first. That not only means taking care of 

our guests, but it also means taking care of all of those employees 

that wear the Marriott name tag. 

So my hope today is to provide some information to the subcommittee that will help you further consider and support Federal 

policies that will help us as a company and as an industry to open 

more doors to that world of opportunity we all aspire to. 

As the chairman referenced, every time we open up a new hotel, 

we generate hundreds of construction jobs, and we can generate in 

a large hotel as many as 1,000 permanent jobs. This is also contributing millions of dollars in tax revenues into government. 

And our hotels become a focal point for so many things in the 

community—community events, meetings. And they also spark additional development. So a hotel going into a place like Times 

Square can transform Times Square into a place that brings tourists back again and again. 

And just as a local example, several blocks from here, we have 

construction cranes right near the D.C. Convention Center on 9th 

Street. This will be the site of the new Marriott Marquis, which is 

going to have 1,100 rooms, will spark tourism to our Nation’s capVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:41 Nov 04, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 113\113-39 CHRIS
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ital, and will have thousands of jobs associated with that new 

hotel. 

Beyond the immediate jobs, we always like to talk about the ripple effect or the multiplier effect in our industry because the opportunities we provide boost disposable income that is reinvested into 

the local economy. This is the disposable income created by salaries 

but also by our supply chain as a company. 

And partnering with global researchers right now, we are mapping that ripple or multiplier effect—specifically, what any new 

hotel in any one of your districts would mean to the local community and the local economy, from our suppliers, our vendors, and 

all the people that we do business with. We are just in the beginning stages of this research. We are really excited when it is completed to be able to share it with you, as we are sharing it with 

governments all over the world, because this kind of a thing is happening everywhere around the world where we are building hotels 

and where travel and tourism is really growing. 

But just kind of bottom line, we know that for every full-service 

hotel, like a Marriott, we send millions of dollars of buying power 

back into local communities through the salaries and supply chain. 

And, as you said, Mr. Chairman, for every five full-time full-service 

hotel rooms that went add to the system, that creates three jobs. 

So, five hotel rooms, three new jobs to the economy. 

And we also like to stress that these are not low-wage, low-opportunity jobs. Our jobs are a gateway to the middle class for many 

people, particularly for individuals who may have not had training, 

because they get the training at our hotels. We cross-train. We promote, where possible. We provide benefits for our employees. And 

at Marriott 90 percent of our workforce is full-time, even though 

the perception may be that these are part-time jobs. 

And our industry, I think, is unique in this respect because a 

housekeeper can become the general manager of a hotel. A lifeguard can become the head of a major travel association. Roger 

Dow, to my right, started as a lifeguard at our Saddle Brook, New 

Jersey, hotel. It was our sixth hotel in the Marriott system. When 

he joined that hotel, he was told maybe Marriott will grow to 100 

hotels. Now we are at 3,800 hotels in his lifetime. So this shows 

that incredible multiplier effect. 

And, of course, as people join the middle class, they suddenly become travelers themselves, so you see this virtuous cycle continuing 

again and again. And that is why in 2012 we hit that amazing 

milestone, which was 1 billion international trips made in the 

world. These were not 1 billion individual travelers but 1 billion individual trips of people outside their home country, many of them 

coming here to the United States. 

So, as a company, we want more people to see the world, and 

this is a campaign we would love to have you join us as part of. 

Because if we want to get to 2 billion trips, there are a number of 

things that we want to do. I know my time is getting short, so just 

to reiterate what Roger Dow had talked about, we want to make 

sure that when people make that trip, that they go to Orlando or 

to Branson and not just to Paris, which is what the trend has been. 

So we see other countries getting very competitive on this front. 

There is a lot of competition, as you talked about, Mr. Chairman. 

19 

And so the number of things you could do would be to support 

Brand USA. Marriott is very involved with that. Our chairman is 

actually on the Brand USA board. Reauthorizing and making permanent reauthorization for Brand USA is a critical component for 

us to be competitive. 

We also want to make sure that we continue to support the 

President’s travel/tourism strategy with things like the JOLT Act. 

And that is another way that you really can support our industry. 

So thanks very much for your commitment to this. We heard it 

in all of your remarks. And we look forward to helping you in this 

campaign to get more people to see America. Thank you. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Matthews follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. Mr. Rothery, you are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF BRIAN D. ROTHERY 

Mr. ROTHERY. Thank you. 

Good morning, Chairman Terry and Ranking Member 

Schakowsky and members of the Subcommittee on Commerce, 

Manufacturing, and Trade. My name is Brian Rothery, and I am 

the assistant vice president of government and public affairs for 

Enterprise Holdings, which operates the Enterprise, Alamo, and 

National Car Rental brands. 

Chairman Terry, thank you for holding this hearing on the impact of tourism to our economy. The rental car industry plays a 

vital role in the tourism industry, helping people get from point A 

to point B, whether they are conducting meetings, visiting family, 

or taking vacations, and particularly those international visitors 

that Roger mentioned that spend more and stay longer—very important. 

But first I would like to point out the special meaning of the 

name ‘‘Enterprise.’’ Enterprise Holdings’ founder, Jack Taylor, 

served as a decorated pilot in World War II while stationed aboard 

the USS Enterprise. After the war, Jack began with seven cars and 

one employee, what we now know as Enterprise Holdings. More 

than 56 years later, our privately held and still Taylor-familyowned company accounts for $15.4 billion in revenue and operated 

1.3 million vehicles at 8,200 locations throughout the world. That 

was all in 2012. 

So a bit about the rental car industry generally speaking. There 

are more than 18,000 car rental branches in the United States, operating a fleet of 1.9 vehicles, producing an approximate revenue 

of $24 billion. 

The simplest way to look at our industry is to divide the nearly 

$24 billion industry into two equal parts: Approximately $12 billion 

generate at the airport; the other $12 billion coming from the 

neighborhood locations throughout the communities that you represent. The revenue parity between the airport and the neighborhood market continues to surprise many, despite the fact that 

these two markets have been roughly of the same size since Auto 

Rental News first reported that fact in 2006. 

The industry groups its transactions into three categories: corporate, replacement, and leisure. So the $12 billion neighborhood 

market is approximately 40 percent replacement, 40 percent leisure, and 20 percent corporate—I will explain this in a moment— 

while the $12 billion airport market is approximately 60 percent 

leisure and 40 percent corporate. 

So let’s take a closer look. The neighborhood corporate rental accounts for $2 billion in annual revenue. Examples include an architect renting a car to make a 150-mile roundtrip to go visit a job 

site or a State employee making a 200-mile roundtrip to visit the 

State capital for a meeting in lieu of driving their personal vehicle. 

It is also important to note the important role the neighborhood 

corporate market plays following natural disasters. The extensive 

network of locations throughout your districts and across the country are able to put utility companies, government agencies, insurVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:41 Nov 04, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 113\113-39 CHRIS
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ance adjustors, and catastrophe teams on the road to help stimulate and get recovery under way as soon as possible. Neighborhood replacement accounts for $5 billion in annual revenue, consisting of rentals to consumers who need to rent a car due 

to the theft or repair of their own car. Many of these rentals are 

paid for by insurance companies as part of the claims process or 

are provided as a courtesy of an auto manufacturer while a vehicle 

undergoes warranty repair. Neighborhood leisure accounts for $5 billion in annual revenue. 

Examples include a larger vehicle to take a family vacation, a cargo 

van to take a child to college, a luxury car for a special occasion 

such as a wedding, or even a pickup truck to facilitate a weekend 

project in the yard. 

Some are surprised to learn the car rental industry caters to the 

needs of many who do not own vehicles. For many urban dwellers, 

it isn’t practical to own a car, and some renters simply can’t afford 

car ownership. Whatever the reason, these customers rent when 

public transportation can’t meet their needs. Airport corporate rental accounts for $5 billion, which serves the 

needs of those deplaning passengers needing a car on government 

or business travel. 

And, finally, last but certainly not least, airport leisure accounts for $7 billion in revenue, which is the largest single revenue category, and it is also the most fun, because most of those folks are 

going on vacation. 

So a bit about employment in the car rental industry, picking up 

along what Kathleen just mentioned. The most recent data shows 

the car rental industry supported close to 124,000 jobs in the U.S., 

generating payroll of more than $4.6 billion. Like many of these 

jobs throughout the travel industry, even entry-level positions in 

the car rental industry are often more of a career than just a job. 

In the case of Enterprise Holdings, nearly every member of our 

senior leadership team all began their career with Enterprise Holdings, just as I did 16 years ago, as an entry-level management 

trainee. We learned the business from the ground up. That is just 

the way we do it. 

So now a bit about the car rental industry and its connectivity 

to the American automotive industry. In 2010, U.S. car rental companies purchased about 1 million vehicles from the big three— 

about 16 percent of the output. Because rental car companies purchase so many cars, the rental car industry provides predictability 

for the auto manufacturers confronting complex and costly scheduling and utilization concerns. 

In order to sell used cars back into the consumer markets, rental 

car companies and manufacturers use a variety of channels, including auto auctions, auto dealerships, and some direct retail operations. Auto dealerships rely on the steady influx of reasonably 

priced, well-maintained, used rental vehicles that are, on average, 

1 year old with relatively low mileage. Moreover, car rental companies purchase a diverse mix of models, providing excellent exposure 

for new car introductions. And as consumer studies reveal, consumers are more likely to buy a vehicle after renting it. We play 

a role in introducing consumers to new technology, including green 

technology, hybrid vehicles and so forth. 

28 

And I want to mention one thing as I am getting a note from the 

chair to wrap things up. We are here to present positive information about our industry, and it is largely positive. I would be remiss 

if I didn’t mention the one thing that continues to be an impediment to our success. 

Unfortunately, many State and local lawmakers continue to believe car rental taxes are a convenient way to export tax burdens 

to nonvoters. It is a modern-day version of taxation without representation. Senator Russell Long may have said it best: ‘‘Don’t tax 

you. Don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.’’ Today, car 

rental customers are that fellow behind that tree. 

The problem of excessive taxation of car rental customers, left 

unchecked, can and will harm our industry. And I encourage this 

Congress to explore ways to address the problem, the same way it 

did for trains, airlines, and buses in previous Congresses. 

So as the U.S. continues to emerge from the recession, it is essential that Americans continue to travel and rent cars, it is essential that car rental companies and the entire travel industry preserve these meaningful jobs. 

And I want to wrap up my remarks, and I would be happy to 

answer any questions. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

Mr. ROTHERY. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rothery follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. Ms. Gaytan? 

STATEMENT OF LORI GAYTAN 

Ms. GAYTAN. Chairman Terry, Ranking Member Schakowsky, 

and members of the subcommittee, my name is Lori Gaytan, and 

I am senior vice president of human resources for InterContinental 

Hotels Group. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on 

how tourism benefits our economy. 

IHG is the parent company for two of the most iconic brands in 

the hospitality industry, Holiday Inn and InterContinental Hotels. 

We are the largest hotel company in the world by number of rooms. 

Our 676,000 rooms host 157 million guests each year in 4,600 properties in nearly 100 countries and territories. More than 3,100 of 

our managed and franchised hotels are right here in the United 

States. IHG owns just five of those U.S.-based hotels. The rest are 

owned by franchisees, many of whom are small-business owners operating hotels in their local communities. 

As others have testified today, the travel industry is a significant 

contributor to the U.S. economy. IHG asked Oxford Economics to 

quantify IHG’s impact on economic development, and they found 

that IHG hotel operations and the spending associated with those 

hotels support close to 2 million jobs and $100 billion in sales. 

In 2012, IHG hired 5,000 people in our corporate offices and 

managed hotels in the U.S. Our managed and franchised hotels 

employ approximately 220,000 employees in the United States. 

Last year, we opened 133 new managed and franchised hotels, and 

we are continuing to grow, with 1,250 hotels currently in our U.S. 

pipeline. We expect to hire 32,000 new employees to staff those 

properties. 

Being hired by IHG is often the first step in a long and satisfying 

career. More than half of IHG’s managers and two-thirds of our directors have been promoted internally. Paul Snyder, who is IHG’s 

vice president for corporate responsibility, got his start as a linelevel employee. He actually was a bartender at the Holiday Inn in 

Rolling Meadows, Illinois. 

And Michel Chertouh joined IHG in Paris as a trainee in 1984. 

During the next 24 years, he worked in different jobs and properties around the world for various IHG brands. In 2008, Michel 

became GM of the InterContinental Hotel in Brazil. In his own 

words, ‘‘I have had a very rewarding career with IHG. To progress 

through so many different roles in so many different places has enriched my professional life and given me a unique perspective on 

the global hospitality industry.’’ There are thousands more stories 

of entry-level jobs at IHG properties providing the first step to a 

long and rewarding career. 

I would like to address what Congress can do to assure that travel and tourism continues to serve as an engine for economic growth 

in local communities across the country. In 2010, Congress enacted 

the Travel Promotion Act, establishing the first-ever national program to attract more international travelers to the United States. 

It is funded through a matching program of up to $100 million in 

private-sector contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers from 

visa-waiver countries. 

43 

We are extremely concerned that legislative proposals to divert 

this fee to other purposes could derail what has been an incredibly 

successful effort to attract foreign visitors to the United States. We 

urge Congress to protect this funding source from being co-opted by 

other interests. 

As we attract new overseas visitors to the United States, it is essential to assure that the process of obtaining a visa and clearing 

through customs is a welcoming one. The JOLT Act, introduced by 

Representative Joe Heck, would do just that, and IHG strongly 

supports its speedy enactment. 

And while we wholeheartedly support Congress’ effort to cut unnecessary spending and reduce fraud and waste, Federal travel 

policies must recognize the need for Federal employee travel to receive training, to meet with their peers, and to perform their responsibilities efficiently and effectively. 

In conclusion, by welcoming travelers from around the world, hotels are taking the lead in growing our economy and creating jobs 

within every State and congressional district in this country. IHG 

is a significant part of that growth and opportunity. 

We urge Congress to act to remove obstacles that foreign travelers face in coming to the United States, to continue to provide the 

dedicated funding source that will allow Brand USA to promote the 

United States to overseas travelers, and to assure that responsible 

policies allow for legitimate travel by Federal employees. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I will be happy 

to answer any questions you have. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Gaytan follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. And Mr. Riehle? 

STATEMENT OF HUDSON RIEHLE 

Mr. RIEHLE. Chairman Terry, Ranking Member Schakowsky, and 

members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to 

testify before you today on behalf of the National Restaurant Association. I am Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Association’s Research and Knowledge Group. 

We use a simple phrase at the Association to tell our industry’s 

story: ‘‘America works here.’’ Restaurants are job creators. We are 

an industry of predominantly small businesses, but together we are 

the Nation’s second-largest private-sector employer. With more that 

13 million employees, the Nation’s nearly 980,000 restaurants employ about 1 in 10 working Americans. About half of all adults 

have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their 

lives, and one in three got their first job in a restaurant. We employ more minority managers than any other industry. 

Although many of our members are still dealing with the effects 

of the great recession, last year we added jobs at a 3.4 percent rate, 

double the 1.7 percent growth rate in the overall economy. We are 

on track this year for our 14th consecutive year of outpacing job 

growth in the overall economy. 

The fortunes of restaurants are obviously closely tied to travel 

and tourism. The Nation’s nearly 1 million restaurant locations are 

starting to gear up for what we hope will be a strong summer season. Our members are looking forward to increased summer sales, 

but we are also proud of the thousands of jobs we will create because of those sales. 

NRA research shows that roughly one in four industry sales dollars come from travel and tourism. The trend is even more prevalent among fine-dining establishments where travelers and tourists 

generate about 30 percent of revenues, on average. In addition, restaurants are also the Nation’s second-largest creator of seasonal 

jobs during the summer months, with travel and tourism fueling 

that job creation. In a typical summer season, restaurants will add 

more than 400,000 jobs. That figure trails only the construction industry. We expect that restaurant employment during the summer 

months will be up about 7 percent above January levels. In some 

tourist areas, restaurant employment will jump by more than 20 

percent during the summer months. 

The restaurant industry benefits from growth in international 

tourism. Restaurant operators in the casual and fine-dining segments reported that travelers and tourists made up a larger portion of their sales last year than in 2011. And when restaurants 

do well, sectors from agricultural to transportation feel the benefits. Every dollar spent at restaurants generates $2.05 for the rest 

of the economy. Considering our projections for restaurants to ring 

up sales of $660 billion this year, that adds up to a total economic 

impact of more than $1.8 trillion. 

The implications for the economy are huge. Our industry is in 

many ways America’s training ground, and we drive careers, entrepreneurial opportunities, and philanthropic contributions in communities across America. 

51 

The Association strongly supports measures to deliver stronger 

travel and tourism to and within the United States. In particular, 

we support: one, reducing barriers to international travel, including 

the JOLT Act reforms in the Senate immigration bill; two, stepping 

up promotion of the United States as an international destination 

through continued public-private collaboration made possible 

through the Travel Promotion Act; and, three, increasing business 

meal deductibility. 

Business travel is an important economic driver within the travel 

and tourism industry. Many businesses of all sizes depend heavily 

on restaurants as a venue for conducting business. Currently, the 

business meal deduction is limited to 50 percent of expenses. Increased deductibility would bring the business meal deduction in 

line with other ordinary and necessary business expenses. 

The National Restaurant Association looks forward to working 

with this subcommittee and all of Congress on these and other important issues to enhance the benefits of tourism for the U.S. economy. 

I welcome any questions you might have. Thank you. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Mr. Riehle. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Riehle follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. And that concludes our first panel’s testimony and 

starts the questioning of the first panel. And I will start with a 

simple question, and we can go down the panel, from Mr. Dow just 

on down. 

I am just curious, when we want foreign travelers to come into 

the United States and spend their foreign dollars in the United 

States, where is our sweet spot? What are the countries that we 

should be recruiting? 

Mr. Dow? 

Mr. DOW. The sweet spot is Western Europe, U.K., Japan, 

France. The growth opportunity is in Latin America, Brazil, China. 

China is up 44 percent over the past couple years; it is a huge opportunity. 

So Western Europe, very important. Asia, Latin America, the future. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. 

Ms. Matthews? 

Ms. MATTHEWS. I would agree with Roger Dow on those opportunity states. The rising middle classes of China and Brazil represent a tremendous opportunity. And right now we are seeing a 

preference to visiting places like Europe because you can get one 

visa to travel to all the 22 European countries. And so, to be competitive with that, we really have to reduce wait times. We have 

had tremendous progress in doing that. 

I just got an email from Ambassador Gary Locke last night who 

said that they have reduced the wait times for a visa interview to 

2 days in China even during peak season. 

Mr. TERRY. Wow. 

Ms. MATTHEWS. But there are more things we can do, such as 

exploring visa waiver. When we see visa waiver for countries like 

South Korea, we see a doubling in the number of visitors. 

So reducing those barriers, making it easier, focusing on trusted 

travelers really is the way we are going to get that opportunity. 

Mr. ROTHERY. I don’t have anything to add. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. 

Ms. Gaytan? 

Ms. GAYTAN. I don’t have anything to add. 

Mr. TERRY. Mr. Riehle? 

Mr. RIEHLE. Within the industry, the results are pretty clear. In 

other words, if you look at growth in restaurant sales on the west 

coast versus the east coast and the proportion that comes from 

travelers and tourism, the growth rates are substantially growing 

higher now on the west coast versus the east coast because of the 

Asian growth in that area. 

But, in the end, all restaurant sales end up being local. And it 

is very important that we communicate to our members the importance that international visitation brings. Because if one is a finedining operator located in Miami, it is an entirely different situation than being a quick-service operator located on an interstate 

highway. And it is important for them to—— 

Mr. TERRY. Good point. 

Mr. RIEHLE [continuing]. Recognize those differences. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

57 

And, Mr. Dow and Ms. Matthews, Brand USA, is there any way 

to quantify the impact of Brand USA? 

Mr. Dow? 

Mr. DOW. Yes. Brand USA is a startup. They began their promotion in U.K., Canada, and Japan. And pre- and post- measurement showed intent to travel here by 11, 12 percent and higher 

from those countries. We will begin now measuring the actual travel, but that is a great indicator. 

So Brand USA has vehicles in place with the Department of 

Commerce to measure the activity and show the growth. But it is 

a no-brainer: If you promote America, they will come. 

Ms. MATTHEWS. I like to say, if the tree falls in the forest and 

nobody is there to hear it, you know, did the tree fall in the forest? 

I mean, you have to promote your country. And we have seen the 

aggressive promotion of Incredible India, Visit Britain. And we see 

the power of that in our own country with destinations in States 

that market themselves. 

And so for the United States not to be in that game, really, basically can hinder the economic growth that we are seeing. So that 

is why we are so supportive of protecting the revenue stream to 

support Brand USA, so that we continue to be part of that competition for travelers. 

Mr. TERRY. Mr. Rothery? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Yes, I think it is important to remember that it 

is a—the industry needs to match their own money in order to—— 

Mr. TERRY. That is a good point. 

Mr. ROTHERY. And so if there is anyone that has their eye on 

whether or not it is going to be successful, it is the private industry 

that is going to be shelling out money. 

So, as Roger pointed out, we can measure in these early days 

based on their previous proclivity to go and look at that versus on 

what actually happened. You know, we are at the very early stages 

of this, and we are all, you know, eagerly watching to see the results. 

Mr. TERRY. Ms. Gaytan? 

Ms. GAYTAN. Nothing to add. 

Mr. RIEHLE. America is obviously the world’s leader in food service. And when we talk to members about the important of getting 

visibility in the decision-making matrix of these international visitors before they actually depart, in other words, the planning of the 

itinerary, we are big advocates of, obviously, placing food service 

options in front of these travelers before they even depart their 

home. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. Thank you. 

And now the ranking member, Ms. Jan Schakowsky, is recognized. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for your excellent testimony, all of you. 

As we know, the blunt and arbitrary cuts of the sequester are 

now in effect, and Federal agencies, including those who have been 

deeply involved in tourism, have experienced across-the-board cuts. 

For example, the National Park Service issued a sequestration 

planning memo that stated the National Park’s budget could result 

58 

in, quote, ‘‘reductions to visitor services, hours, and operations, 

shortening of seasons, and possibly the closing of areas,’’ unquote. 

Mr. Dow, do you have any concerns about the impact of the sequester on your member companies? And if so, what are they? 

Mr. DOW. We have many concerns that travel does not become 

the face of sequester. With furloughs, FAA, fortunately, the House 

and the Senate stopped what would have been a disaster. To save 

$160 million, we put $9.3 billion and 83,000 jobs at risk, and the 

Senate and the House stopped that last-minute. 

We are concerned with the same thing with getting through airports and the TSA. And as you so well stated, the National Parks, 

our treasures, we are very concerned that it could hurt there. 

So we would love to see smart cuts in the right places versus 

across-the-board cuts that will have disastrous impact. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

Has anyone else on the panel noticed impacts to the tourism industry because of sequester? OK. 

I wanted to ask—you know, we are all excited about the stock 

market going way up, and it looks like in some aspects the economy is improving. But, actually, middle-class America hasn’t seen 

a raise in a very long time, and a lot of people are still suffering 

from the effects of the economic downturn, the recession. 

I am just wondering, over the last several years, if you have seen 

any rebounding, any difference in tourism of ordinary Americans, 

who, it seems to me, probably one of the first things—not probably; 

I know—you cut back on is going out to eat, taking that long weekend, planning your summer vacation. I am just wondering how the 

economy feels to you. I would think your industry would be a barometer of that, in many ways. 

Anybody want to start with a crack at that? 

Ms. MATTHEWS. I can address that. 

I believe that during the economic downturn we saw some of the 

greatest losses in our luxury brands. But, really, across all of our 

brands, we saw the impact of the downturn, and not only among 

American families who were reluctant and couldn’t afford to travel, 

but also businesses that were reluctant to do that. 

We have seen across-the-board, across-all-tiers growth as we 

have kind of rebounded from this. So whether you are talking 

about a Fairfield Inn, which could be a family going on a weekend, 

it could be a soccer team that is back on the road, or it could be 

somebody who is a traveling salesperson, we are seeing those rebounds in those lower tiers, as well. 

Mr. DOW. One of the other things about this industry is that it 

employs the underemployed. The number of people that can start 

in this industry, as we are adding jobs 10 percent faster, you can’t 

do that at Microsoft. But you can go to work down the street at 

the new Marriott hotel or one of these restaurants and grow a career. 

There is a myth that we are a bunch of ticket-takers and hamburger-flippers. We have all flipped a hamburger in our time; I am 

sure we all did take a ticket. But the bottom line, we are not doing 

that anymore. And so it is a career builder, where young, sharp 

Americans can be trained and grow. And we can employ the middle 

class probably much better than most other industries. 

59 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. OK. 

True, but I am wondering if, in comparison to prerecession days, 

if we are back or we are just climbing back or, you know, how we 

compare to those times. I am wondering if we have—— 

Ms. MATTHEWS. In the first quarter of 2013, Marriott International exceeded our peak 2007 levels for our fee revenues. So 

that shows that we are back at the level where we had our peak 

production and growth. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Is that the experience of everyone on the 

panel? 

How about the Restaurant Association? 

Mr. RIEHLE. For restaurants, this year the total industry sales 

will be up 3.8 percent. It is the fourth consecutive year of sales 

growth. 

Although the grow rates are definitely much more modest than 

prior to the recessionary period, there is substantial, substantial 

pent-up demand, in other words, what we call unfulfilled demand, 

for restaurant usage among tourists as well as residents. Almost 

one out of every two Americans report that they are not using restaurants as much as they would like in their daily lifestyle. 

And when we talk to our membership about it, it is very important to have a marketing promotional plan, both internationally 

and domestically, to nudge those consumers into that decision to 

patronage a food service establishment. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. OK. 

Ms. Gaytan? 

Ms. GAYTAN. At InterContinental Hotels, which largely in the 

U.S. we are a midscale brand, so very much servicing the middle 

class, occupancy is up. We still have not recovered as well with 

rate, but we have exceeded theprerecession levels in terms of occupancy. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Great. 

Thank you so much. 

Mr. TERRY. The gentleman from New Jersey, vice chairman of 

the committee, Mr. Lance. 

Mr. LANCE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

To Mr. Rothery—am I pronouncing that right? 

Mr. ROTHERY. That is correct. 

Mr. LANCE. You discussed in your testimony the fact that the 

taxes on car rentals is a growing challenge for your industry. Can 

you tell us in a little more detail what is happening, how widespread the practice is, and which of the jurisdictions are the worst? 

Mr. ROTHERY. So there are approximately 120 special taxes that 

go above and beyond the sales tax in that particular taxing jurisdiction. The problem really isn’t unique to any one geographic area 

or State or city; it is really throughout the United States. I believe 

43 States and the District of Columbia have some form of extra car 

rental tax. Of course, not every State has a sales tax, so there is 

a little bit of a difference there. 

Mr. LANCE. Are there States that do not have a sales tax and yet 

have taxation on car rentals? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Yes, there are. I am going to behard-pressed to 

come up with that off the top of my head, but I know there is at 

least one. 

60 

Mr. LANCE. Uh-huh. 

Mr. ROTHERY. And they range on a variety of different projects. 

You know, most notably, sports stadiums is kind of a popular one. 

But it is not unique to one particular area, to answer your question. 

Mr. LANCE. And could you provide the committee with a list of 

what these levels of taxation are across the country? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Yes, absolutely. 

Mr. LANCE. Thank you. 

And how will Obamacare affect your industry? 

Mr. ROTHERY. You know, I don’t know that we have a stance on 

it, you know, that we have formally taken. You know, we provide, 

you know, health insurance to our employees. 

Mr. LANCE. And are most of your employees full-time employees? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Yes, a large majority of our employees are fulltime. 

Mr. LANCE. Marriott indicated 90 percent of your employees are 

full-time. And would that be a similar rate in your industry? 

Mr. ROTHERY. You know, I would want to be serious about studying the facts before I respond to that question. But intuitively to 

me, you know, I would think that would be pretty close to be true. 

But I can get to the committee an exact answer. 

Mr. LANCE. Thank you. 

And also the same question to the Restaurant Association. A 

number of significant restaurant chains have made public announcements about the need to cut their employees’ hours because 

of Obamacare. And if you would update the committee on your 

views on that and where you think we might be headed. 

Mr. RIEHLE. A typical restaurant pretax operating margin is 

about 3 to 5 percent of total sales. It is an extremely competitive 

industry. It has been and continues to be even more so now. When 

one thinks about operating costs for a restaurant, labor costs constitute about a third of a traditional restaurant industry sales dollar. 

And the legislation—I am just the research guy—the legislation 

is, obviously, extremely complex. The industry is extremely fragmented. There are almost 70 distinct restaurant segments that roll 

up into that $660 billion. 

So it is a complex piece of legislation overlaid an extremely complex industry, and so the outcomes are obviously very different for 

different types of operations and ownerships. 

Mr. LANCE. Generally speaking, what percentage of your employees are full-time? 

Mr. RIEHLE. OK. From a research definition, the difference between full-time and part-time, it is important to think of part-time 

in four different categories. In essence, you can be full-time parttime, you can be part-time part-time, part-time full-time, you can 

be seasonal. 

Mr. LANCE. I am sorry, I am not smart enough to understand 

that. 

Mr. RIEHLE. Well, for the industry—in other words, the industry 

is seasonal. In other words, sales in different—there are certain locations that are only open for, say, 3 or 4 months of the year. 

Mr. LANCE. Yes. 

61 

Mr. RIEHLE. There are individuals that work part-time in the industry full-time. And then there are full-time people that work 

part-time, you know, for a certain period of the year only. 

Mr. LANCE. I see. 

Mr. RIEHLE. So the one hallmark of the restaurant industry really is its extreme labor-intensiveness. 

Mr. LANCE. Yes. Well, as we move forward, obviously, we are interested to know how the new healthcare legislation will have an 

impact on the various industries, particularly in tourism and, within tourism, related to your fine work in your industry. 

Mr. RIEHLE. And I will make sure our policy people get back to 

you on that. 

Mr. LANCE. Thank very much. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

And now the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Butterfield, is 

recognized for your 5 minutes of fame. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And thank all of you for your testimony today. 

I will try to do this in less than 5 minutes. And let me start with 

you, Mr. Rothery, if we can. 

Mr. Rothery, I appreciate the integral role that the rental car industry plays in tourism. Whether a family is renting a minivan or 

an SUV for a short weekend or trip, ready access to transportation 

options is a key to a successful tourism industry. 

Mr. Rothery, there has been some discussion about the lack of 

Federal regulation of the industry. In December of last year, at the 

end of the 112th Congress, stakeholder discussions produced a bipartisan bill, S. 3706. It is my understanding that there is now 

broad support for 3706 by both the rental car industry and key consumer advocacy organizations. 

So I want to get you on the record today. Does your company 

support Senate bill 3706? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Yes, we support—Enterprise Holdings supports 

the effort to codify the practices of the industry, which is to make 

sure that vehicles that are declared recalled by the manufacturers 

and NHTSA, that they are safe. And there is an agreement between rental car companies and also consumer groups. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And why is it important for the industry to be 

regulated by uniform standards? 

Mr. ROTHERY. Well, I think it is important that consumers have 

a degree of confidence when they rent a car that it is safe and it 

is safe to operate that vehicle. You know, I think it just fairly 

speaks for itself. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. All right. 

Finally, to you, Mr. Dow, I have served on this subcommittee for 

some time now. I was involved in the drafting of the Travel Promotion Act and supported its passage. The TPA, as we call it, created a public-private partnership known as Brand USA to promote 

U.S. Tourism to people around the world. It is clear that Brand has 

been a success, with international visitors to the U.S. continuing to 

increase rapidly. 

62 

What can States and the Federal Government do together to 

make sure we have the resources needed to accommodate more and 

more international tourists? 

Mr. DOW. Well, first of all, Mr. Butterfield, I thank you for your 

support. You were there from the get-go and helped make it happen, so we appreciate that. 

What can be done is to make sure that the money for Brand USA 

stays in place. That has been said several times. And States can 

work together. What Brand USA does is, as I mentioned earlier, it 

levels the playing field. So let’s say that North Carolina wants to 

promote just in Scandinavian countries or Italy. You can do that 

through them, which you almost couldn’t afford to do on your own 

before. 

So it brings you the opportunity to take your dollars in your 

State and make them very scaleable to go after direct markets you 

want to go to and with matching funds that will come in. So it really stretches your dollars, and it can bring people specifically you 

want to get to. 

So it is a huge opportunity. And the most important thing is we 

must reauthorize this when it comes up because, as I say, it primes 

the pump, and it will build a great number of jobs and revenue for 

this country. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And we want our visitors to make repeat visits to the United States, not just once in a lifetime. 

Mr. DOW. You got that right. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And that is going to require flexibility. Do you 

agree? 

Mr. DOW. I think it certainly is. And one of the challenges we 

have is, when visitors come into this country, is there are not 

enough people in Customs and Border Protection. So you see in 

areas like Miami, L.A., New York, some of the bigger airports, 

O’Hare, where lines can be 3 and 4 hours. And these people—I saw 

one just the other day, she said, ‘‘Our exhibitors are not coming 

back to this convention ever again. We are going to the conventions 

in Germany or Shanghai.’’ We can’t afford to let that happen. 

So we need to get the resources, that these good men and women 

are just stretched to the max. And that will ensure they come back. 

And we have done a lot of research that says, if you fix it, we will 

come. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you. 

I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

And if I am correct, 2015 is the year that TPA must be reauthorized, but we will probably start working on it late this year and 

into 2014. 

Mr. DOW. If you want to start right now, we are with you. Thank 

you very much. 

Mr. UPTON. I thought you would be. 

The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bilirakis, is recognized for your 

5 minutes. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it very 

much. 

Mr. Dow, one of the aspects of tourism that I am interested in 

is pushing tourists out beyond the typical tourist destinations. How 

63 

can we either attract international visitors to new locations or capture and push those traditional-destination visitors out beyond 

those locations to new cities or destinations for an extra day or 2? 

In other words, we want them to visit Disney, but we want them 

to stay a couple extra days and visit our sandy beaches on the east 

and the west coast of Florida. So do you have any ideas on how we 

can do that? 

Mr. DOW. I have many ideas. 

First of all, when those visitors come to an Orlando, a Miami, a 

New York City, a Chicago, an L.A. For the first time, that is where 

they stay. The next time, they take—and they will stay maybe 7 

days there and 7 days elsewhere. The third trip, 2 days there and 

elsewhere. 

And I think Brand USA allows you to promote those areas, because the travelers today are looking for the authentic destination, 

the real America, the history, to get out to the Nebraskas, the Tennessees, places like that, and to other areas in Florida that have 

the real life of America. 

So this is a huge opportunity. And if you look at what Brand 

USA’s advertising is doing, it is showing those areas. It is not 

pushing the Las Vegases and the New Yorks that are part of the 

travel, but it is pushing people to those areas who don’t have the 

wherewithal to attract those markets. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Very good. Thank you. 

Mr. Riehle, I was pleasantly surprised to learn from your testimony about the enormous impact that tourism has on the restaurant industry. Florida has a large array of unique culinary attractions, such as seafood, Cuban food, Greek food from Tarpon 

Springs, where I am from, just to name a few examples. 

Can you expand on how tourism has a multiplying economic factor and how that benefits the restaurant sector and local economies? 

Mr. RIEHLE. Absolutely. Culinary tourism, which is the industry 

term, is a rapidly growing area for the industry. In other words, 

both domestically and internationally, certain regions are obviously 

famous for certain cuisines. And in terms of the marketing mix to 

potential travelers, it is very important, because dining is such an 

important, integral experience associated with travel, that the operators and the visitors and convention associations market specifically the cuisines for which these different regions are know. 

That is not to say other cuisines aren’t important, but it is true 

when you do the culinary research that certain travelers to certain 

areas expect to have certain cuisines highlighted in those travel experiences in those areas. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Thank you. 

Mr. Dow, we touched on this a couple times, but this is so very 

important. Canadian visitors are an enormous source of tourism to 

Florida. As you know, we have the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Florida. 

Last year, Canadians made more than 3 1⁄2 million visits to Florida 

and spent more than $4 billion in the State. Seasonal Canadians 

visitors are integral members of our local communities and economies. Thank God for them. 

Canada is one of the countries in which the Customs and Border 

Protection operates preclearance customs facilities. UnderstandVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:41 Nov 04, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 113\113-39 CHRIS
64 

ably, CBP is cautious about discussing resource levels, of course, 

for security reasons, as you know. However, airlines are regularly 

denied additional precleared transborder flights from Canada to 

the United States because of capacity issues. 

Can you speak to the benefit of the preclearance customs program, particularly from Canada? And I know you touched on it a 

couple of times, but it is so very important. 

Mr. DOW. Well, I think the preclearance is extremely important 

in the areas it is going on right now because it allows you to look 

at the traveler in their area, and if you want to isolate certain people, it gives you that capability. But it takes the logjam off the Customs and Border Protection people, who, as I said, are overstressed, 

and I think that is a huge opportunity. 

I was just yesterday in Tampa, just down the road from you, and 

they are building a brand-new international terminal. They could 

only handle 300 passengers. Now they can handle 1,200. And when 

you promote in Greece to Tarpon Springs, the great area there, 

through Brand USA, those people can now get in. 

So if we can get them precleared in other areas, it will certainly 

add to the capability and capacity of Customs and Border Protection. 

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. 

I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. UPTON. Thank you. 

And now, Dr. Christensen. 

Before I start your 5 minutes, though, some people have wanted 

to take pictures of your person up here testifying. And since this 

is a tourism hearing, we encourage photos. So feel free to just come 

on. Just don’t stand in front. Do what you want to get your photo. 

Dr. Christensen, you are now recognized for your 5 minutes. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And we have been really lucky to hear from some of our greatest 

experts on the importance of tourism to our economy and what you 

think Congress can do to make a good thing even better. So I want 

to thank you again for coming to share your ideas and your suggestions with us. 

And I have many questions. I want to use at least part of this 

time to put a few issues on the record that are pertinent to my district. 

First, all of you have worked within the territories. And we are 

often left out, so I am just going to ask for your support, whenever 

legislation is being written, that you always remind everyone to include the territories, where it is beneficial to us. 

And on the Visa Waiver Program, of course, we talked about the 

bill. The President has his initiative, as well, addressing improving 

and expanding the Visa Waiver Program. And while we support 

also expanding it to China and to South America—I know my commissioner is very interested in expanding it to South America—we 

have long wanted to at least have it extended for the Virgin Islands 

and the CARICOM countries. 

And we have legislation that we are about to reintroduce that 

would create a demonstration program. There is a precedent in 

Guam already for a visa waiver. We have never had one, but our 

economy could really use the lift. And it would be helpful to some 

65 

of the smaller islands in the Caribbean, as well. So we hope that 

we can get the industry and the committee’s support for that when 

we introduce it. 

St. Croix has been very hard-hit, as we have lost our largest private employer for the territory. We have been on an almost, I think 

it is about, 10-year journey to National Heritage Area for St. Croix. 

It brings increased branding, funding support, and a longer-staying 

tourist that spends more. It is a designation that is fully in sync 

with what our commissioner has envisioned for tourism in St. 

Croix. And her department has actually participated in this study 

on which we are hoping to base our designation. St. Croix has so 

many areas and events that are connected to the Nation and to the 

world, and it really would be a great designation. 

I am wondering, what has been your experience with National 

Heritage Areas? We have about 40 of them in the country. What 

has been the experience of each of you? Maybe you would want to 

comment if you have had that experience of working with the National Heritage Areas in tourism. 

Mr. DOW. This is an extremely important area. And, as I said, 

people want to see these areas, and they are so important. And you 

mentioned some visa-waiver opportunities. These are low-risk 

countries and certainly should be included. And that would certainly help these areas that are hard-hit, because you have such 

a beautiful destination. 

So I think the more we can push the natural beauty and all the 

things that are important—and, again, Brand USA can surgically 

allow St. Croix to promote where they need the business and make 

their dollars really work much harder than they have been able to 

on their own. So I think it is a critical opportunity before you. 

Ms. MATTHEWS. Many of Marriott’s select service brands are located near some of the National Heritage sites that you talk about. 

We opened up our first hotel on an Indian reservation in the southwest USA. We have hotels throughout the Virgin Islands. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. You do. 

Ms. MATTHEWS. And, really, they are some of our—— 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Even one on St. Croix. 

Ms. MATTHEWS [continuing]. Most beautiful properties. 

And so, as Roger said, we would be very supportive of visa waiver for those territories. They are low-risk travelers. And security is 

a very important concern. As we talk about, sort of, greater mobility of people, we are also very concerned about security and being 

smart about that in this visa process. 

And I think that, you know, infrastructure is so critical. So 

whether it is investing in our airports—because our airports are 

not competitive with some of the best new airports in India and in 

China, and that is a deterrent. So investing in airports, continued 

pressure on airlift, which is critical to a place like the Virgin Islands, and rapid rail is another area of critical importance and investing to get to these tertiary, secondary markets. Because if you 

have rail and good roads in addition to newer airports, you are 

going to really get much more broader benefit to all parts of the 

United States and our territories from the travel and tourism opportunity that we see. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. OK. 

66 

I think I am running out of time, so thank you for the opportunity. 

Mr. LANCE [presiding]. Yes, thank you, Dr. Christensen. 

Next, we will hear from Mr. Harper from Mississippi 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And welcome to each of you. Thank you for taking the time to 

share your input with us. 

And, Mr. Riehle, if I could follow up a little bit with some earlier 

questions, just to give you my experience, even before Obamacare 

passed, I was getting calls from restaurant owners in my district 

worried about the impact, because, as you said, the profit margin 

is pretty thin. And I have had a number of restaurant owners with 

multiple restaurants who said that if they had to pay the penalty 

or provide health insurance, they would be out of business. 

And so we have seen a number of restaurants that are taking 

people who were full-time people, turning them into part-time employees, or maybe sharing them with other restaurants. Are you 

seeing that, hearing that experience as perhaps an unintended consequence of Obamacare? 

Mr. RIEHLE. We, obviously, survey restaurant operators every 

month, and we ask them about top challenges. And the top challenge, obviously, now still remains the economy. 

The second top challenge now from the restaurant-operator perspective is government. Roughly about one out of five restaurants 

operators reports that that is their top challenge. And, obviously, 

part of that is related to the ACA and sequestration. But in terms 

of their ability to plan—— 

Mr. HARPER. OK, well, hold on. You are saying the restaurants 

are saying sequestration is actually having an impact on them? 

Mr. RIEHLE. When you survey restaurant operators and ask 

them what their challenges are—— 

Mr. HARPER. Well, you said government, but—— 

Mr. RIEHLE. Yes. Correct. 

Mr. HARPER [continuing]. Are you saying that government includes—and, of course, I can’t call it ‘‘ACA’’ because it is not affordable. So if I refer to it as ‘‘Obamacare,’’ you will excuse me. 

But are you defining it as Obamacare and sequestration? Or is 

that how it is defined within this survey or this question that you 

do? 

Mr. RIEHLE. Well, there are basically four challenges for the restaurant operator. 

Mr. HARPER. OK. Now, we are on very limited time, so I apologize for that. 

Mr. RIEHLE. OK. 

Mr. HARPER. But your industry is extremely important to tourism, it is important to our economy. But the fact is, if you provide 

health insurance or you have an additional cost, perhaps a premium increase—and, Ms. Matthews, I will talk to you in just a moment, with Marriott—if you have an increased cost, that is going 

to get passed on to the consumer, will it not? I mean, it would have 

to, I would assume. 

And let me ask you, Ms. Matthews. I know that we all have to 

be diplomatic, but the fact is, what we are seeing is a lot of companies or chains are looking at this. If they have to provide health 

67 

insurance at a greater cost, then their choices are really three: turn 

them into a part-time employee that will not receive a benefit, or 

pay that additional cost out of the corporation, or ask the employee 

to pay a bigger share. Am I correct on that? 

Ms. MATTHEWS. So Marriott International as a company is very 

committed to providing health coverage to all of its employees. And, 

as I said earlier, 90 percent of our employees are full-time. We actually during the downturn provided health care to anybody who 

was working at least 30 hours. So while we had to cut back hours 

on employees during the downturn to be able to manage through 

the downturn, we did not take away their health care, even if they 

were working under the hours that normally would define full-time 

and part-time. 

We have seen our healthcare costs go up, but they were going up 

tremendously prior to the Affordable Health Care Act being passed. 

So we have seen that trajectory of increased healthcare costs. We 

will see additional costs as we take on new enrollees, whether they 

are 26-year-old children of our employees or people that maybe had 

decided not to take—people who decided to take the risk of not taking healthcare coverage. 

We are doing a number of things to control our costs, and that 

has been our approach. So we are very focused on prevention for 

our employees. We have aggressive programs on nutrition, on exercise, things that can lower our costs. We have a penalty if somebody is a smoker that they now have to pay. So we are looking for 

ways to manage our costs as we see them going up. 

But we see this as a combination of just normal healthcare cost 

escalation, in addition to some additional costs by virtue of the pool 

of enrollees increasing. 

Mr. HARPER. And I think you hit on one of the things I think is 

very important, having traveled abroad fairly recently, is we are 

becoming to be at a greater disadvantage on our infrastructure and 

the appearance of some of our international airports in how we will 

compete. As some explained to me in a foreign country, it is the 

coolness factor, too, and how we compete on that and how we promote our States and our country. 

And for us, Mississippi, promoted as the birthplace of America’s 

music, very important, with the birthplace of Jimmie Rodgers, the 

father of country music, B.B. King, and so many others in our 

State. 

So I think it is important that we all look at ways we can promote good people into our country. And thank you very much for 

your time. 

I yield back, Mr. Chair. 

Mr. TERRY [presiding]. Thank you. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah for your 5 minutes. 

Mr. MATHESON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you 

holding this hearing. 

I come from a State where tourism has always during my lifetime been the biggest industry in our State, between our ski industry and our national parks. But it is important we look from a national perspective, too, and figure out how we compete with the 

rest of the world and make sure that we have the opportunities to 

68 

attract travel and tourism business in this country. So I appreciate 

you holding this hearing. 

I had a question for Ms. Matthews. 

In your testimony, you cited a number of different accolades that 

Marriott has received for its human resources policies. And one I 

noticed is that you have been named one of Working Mother Magazine’s 100 best companies to work for in this country. Can you tell 

me what policies have led Marriott to being placed on that list for 

over 20 years? 

Ms. MATTHEWS. Marriott has a very inclusive policy. We want 

the broadest array of talent to be able to work in our hotels, and 

so that includes men and women and people of many cultural and 

minority backgrounds. 

As a company, we have always had very women-friendly and 

family-friendly policies, whether it is onsite daycare at our corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland; whether it is leadership programs that develop talent, whether they are men or 

women, but we have women’s leadership programs that granted us 

these accolades, I would say. 

I think you see women rising within the company. Our new global officer for sales, marketing, and brand is a working mother with 

three young children who started in an entry-level position in our 

company. So you see those great success stories within the company, as well. 

So those are some of the reasons why we would have gotten 

those accolades. 

Mr. MATHESON. That is great. 

Mr. Riehle, I have a question that is a little off-topic from what 

you have heard so far today, but to the extent that restaurants 

need to avoid having cost pressures that make it more difficult to 

provide service to tourists—and this is a question that another subcommittee on this hearing may be covering more, which is impact 

of government policy on food prices with the renewable fuel standard and the fact that 40 percent of the corn produced in this country doesn’t go to food, it goes to fuel. 

And I was wondering if the Restaurant Association has researched this issue, if they have taken a position on this issue 

about how it affects food prices for your members. 

Mr. RIEHLE. Yes. Going back to this survey about operator top 

challenges, the third top challenge now is food cost. Roughly about 

a third of the restaurant industry sales dollars goes to cover food 

and beverage purchases. 

Wholesale food price inflation in 2011 was 8.1 percent. It was the 

highest rate in over 30 years. And this year, it is running about 

2.6 percent, on top of another 2 percent increase last year. 

So, from the operator perspective, there is no way to pass 

through those costs of dampened consumer demand, so it really 

forces a very introspective look in terms of the operating cost structure and where efficiencies can be achieved. 

But the policy staff has a position on what you are talking about, 

and I will make sure they get back to you. But, in general, from 

the operator perspective, there is no substitute for stable, predictable, wholesale food price inflation. 

Mr. MATHESON. OK. I appreciate that. 

69 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. Thank you. 

So that concludes the questions of this panel. I want to thank 

you all. You did a wonderful job and were very helpful. We thank 

you very much. So, panel number one, you are now dismissed. 

The second panel, if you will just give us a few seconds to get 

sorted out here. 

Mr. Riehle, I was thinking you had mentioned about food tourism. So I was thinking about Nebraska, and I thought, we are 

known for our beef and our steaks. So to add to added-value tourism, maybe a tour of a slaughter plant? 

Mr. RIEHLE. There are lots of different drivers for the restaurant 

industry. 

Mr. TERRY. If we can get the second panel seated. If we can get 

our witnesses to please take their seats. 

Well, I want to thank the second panel. And most of them have 

been introduced by their respective Members who requested their 

presence. 

We have Bill Seccombe and Sharon Zadra that was not introduced because she didn’t have somebody from Nevada here, but she 

is a board member with the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors 

Authority; then Gina Speckman, executive director of Chicago’s 

North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau; Ralph Witsell, Discover Torrance Visitors Bureau; and then Beverly Nicholson-Doty, 

commissioner, U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism. 

I thank you for being here. 

And just like with the first panel, you will have 5 minutes. There 

is a clock right up here. Evidently, our lights showing green, yellow, and red are not working, so you will have to pay attention up 

here. 

So Mr. Seccombe? 

STATEMENTS OF J. WILLIAM SECCOMBE, PRESIDENT AND 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VISIT FLORIDA; SHARON 

ZADRA, BOARD MEMBER, RENO-SPARKS CONVENTION AND 

VISITORS AUTHORITY, COUNCILWOMAN, CITY OF RENO, NEVADA; GINA SPECKMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHICAGO’S 

NORTH SHORE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU; 

RALPH WITSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DISCOVER TORRANCE VISITORS BUREAU; AND BEVERLY NICHOLSON-DOTY, 

COMMISSIONER, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF 

TOURISM 

STATEMENT OF J. WILLIAM SECCOMBE 

Mr. SECCOMBE. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and, Members, thank 

you for the opportunity to be here today. 

As the president and chief executive officer of Visit Florida, our 

State’s destination marketing company, I probably have one of the 

best jobs in the world: 825 miles of the most beautiful beaches in 

the world, the theme park capital, home of American golf, the home 

of American cruise lines, award-winning State parks, and incredible communities, from Jacksonville to Tampa to the Florida Keys. 

And when you think tourism, when you think Florida tourism especially, you think it is all fun and games. And, in fact, the milVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:41 Nov 04, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 113\113-39 CHRIS
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lions of visitors that come to Florida every day are enjoying just 

that. But it is also the number-one industry in our State, and it 

is a key economic driver, the biggest industry in our State. And I 

can tell you that the travel and hospitality industry in the State 

of Florida was the key industry that led Florida out of the recession of the last several years. 

It is our vision to make Florida the number-one travel destination in the world, and we are in pretty good place to do that. Last 

year, we had our second consecutive record year of 89.3 million 

visitors to the Sunshine State. Over 500 million vacation nights 

were spent in Florida. And those visitors spent $71.8 billion on hotels and shopping and dining and attractions around the State. 

To put that into perspective, there are more people visiting the 

Sunshine State today than live in 11 U.S. States. It is a huge economic engine; it is a huge driver of Florida’s economy. 

Those visitors will spend $196 million today in Florida, and that 

generates $4.3 billion in State sales tax collections, 23 percent of 

all the State’s sales taxes collected in the Sunshine State. Those 

1.6 million people that are visiting Florida today are employing 

1,053,000 Floridians. It is a huge, huge driver of the economy. And 

that number has been growing like the visitor numbers: 36 months 

of consecutive growth in the hospitality sector in the Sunshine 

State. 

As I look to the future of Florida tourism, I can tell you our next 

major benchmark is trying to get from 89 million visitors to 100 

million visitors. And what does that look like? I can tell you that 

the economic impact of reaching a goal like that is significant. We 

would be able to create another 121,000 jobs. The average salary 

of those jobs, according to Florida TaxWatch, would be over 

$43,000 per person. So they are, again, big, real jobs for the Florida 

economy. It would generate an increase in personal income in Florida of $5.3 billion a year. 

So for Florida to be able to reach that kind of economic number 

and be the number-one travel destination in the world, we obviously continue to be very aggressive in our marketing efforts, both 

domestically and internationally. And we are fortunate to have a 

Governor and a legislature in the State of Florida that recognizes 

the importance of tourism to our economy and to job creation. And 

they just funded our organization for the next fiscal year at an 18 

percent increase in our funding. 

We know tourism marketing works. It works at the State level, 

it works at the city level, and it works at the national level as well. 

I can tell you, for us to achieve our vision, the only way we are 

going to be able to do that is seeing a huge increase in international visitation. Fortunately, in the last 5 years, international 

visitation to the State of Florida has more than doubled. So it is 

growing, and that is very, very good news. Ten percent of all Canadians visited Florida last year. We had a record 10 million overseas 

visitors. 

But the only way we are going to be able to continue to grow 

moving forward is with the help of Brand USA. I can tell you that 

I very much, along with the entire Florida tourism industry, appreciate your support of Brand USA and the Travel Promotion Act. 

71 

Visit Florida was a founding partner of Brand USA. And our organization, along with 50 other organizations in the State, contributed over $8 million to Brand USA to help them be successful. 

Again, destination marketing works. And we know that if we help 

Brand USA promote the United States of America, you know, a rising tide raises all ships, and Florida will be a beneficiary. But the 

success of that organization is critical. 

As we heard from Roger Dow earlier, a 12 to 14 percent increase 

in intention to visit the United States as a result of their initial 

campaigns, that marketing is working. Again, it is not only good 

for United States, it is not only good for Florida, it is good for all 

of the destinations around the country. 

And what they are during now with full funding is going into 

really a second year of their kind of fully operational marketing 

program. It is going to allow them to market in areas and markets 

that are key and incredibly critical to Florida’s future success, marketing in Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, the United Kingdom. 

So at Visit Florida and, I can tell you, not only our organization 

but the entire Florida tourism industry is 100 percent committed 

to the success of Brand USA. And we believe that with your continued support of Brand USA we will be able to, again, see Florida 

tourism industry numbers increase but also international visitation 

to all of the United States increase, as well. 

So thank you for your support, and we very much appreciate it. 

Mr. TERRY. Wow, that was perfectly timed. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Seccombe follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. Ms. Zadra, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF SHARON ZADRA 

Ms. ZADRA. Greetings, Chairman Terry and Ranking Member 

Schakowsky, and Members. I am Reno Vice Mayor Sharon Zadra 

and before you as a representative of the Reno-Sparks Convention 

and Visitors Authority. And thank you for allowing me to be here 

with you today. 

The Nevada Commission on Tourism estimates that more than 

50 million visitors come through Nevada each year, making tourism Nevada’s largest export industry, infusing more than $56 billion into Nevada and providing 30 percent of the State’s employment, generating $2.7 billion in State and local tax revenue, which 

represents roughly 26 percent of all tax revenues in the State. 

There are more than 425,000 residents in the greater northern 

Nevada metropolitan area, which welcomes 4 1⁄2 million visitors 

each year. Studies show that visitors to our area report spending 

more than $450 per person per day, which at an average length of 

stay of 3 1⁄2 days translates into a total impact of $7 billion in tourism-related spending each year. 

Although we in northern Nevada are working to diversify our 

economy with recent acquisitions such as a $1 billion Apple dataprocessing center, there is no question that tourism will continue 

to be the fuel of our economic engine. 

The city of Reno has teamed with private entities to add more 

than 600,000 square feet of convention and entertainment venues 

downtown. And, certainly, the draw of Lake Tahoe, which is recognized as America’s greatest lake by the readers of USA Today, cannot be underestimated. 

But one of the attributes that truly sets us apart and helps drive 

tourism is our 290-day special events seasons. Thousands come 

from around the globe to watch the world’s only closed-course pylon 

air race at our National Championship Air Races. We attract more 

than 50,000 ‘‘burners’’ from around the world for the counterculture 

festival known as Burning Man. More than 11,000 of them fly into 

the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, and that air travel alone accounts for $10 million in economic impact. Six thousand classic cars 

invade the area for Hot August Nights, filling our hotels and 

streets. And new this year, we are bringing the world-renowned car 

auction company Barrett-Jackson to Reno for one of its four nationwide events. 

Tourism is critical to northern Nevada because tourism creates 

jobs. Leisure and hospitality leads job growth in our statistical 

area. It added 1,500 jobs alone in the past year. Tourism paves our 

roads and builds new ones to support our growing population. 

Tourism builds schools and educates our children, who will continue to direct us at all levels of local government and in leadership 

roles. 

Nevada is not alone in its reliance on the tourism industry, and 

so I plead that every State representative support tourism-related 

initiatives and to ensure that the tourism industry sees sustained 

growth. 

I encourage beginning now the reauthorization of the Brand 

USA, as we have discussed earlier today. Making it easier for tourVerDate Nov 24 2008 15:41 Nov 04, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00082 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 113\113-39 CHRIS
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ists to obtain entry visas helps our Nation’s economy. Surely, there 

may be reforms that are needed, but I believe Brand USA will continue to play an integral role in growing the U.S. travel and tourism industry. 

Also, please consider legislation that will end the practice of prohibiting travel to locations perceived to be a resort or vacation destination. As far back as 2009, some Federal agencies have restricted travel to resort locations. Unfortunately, these bans have 

been decided without consideration for whether or not holding a 

Federal Government event in the banned locale actually presents 

a savings or better value to the American taxpayer. My representative, Congressman Mark Amodei, soon will introduce legislation to 

address this. 

Lastly, if any Members of Congress wish to become more involved in promoting travel and tourism nationwide, please reach 

out to Congressman Amodei and anyone else on the Nevada delegation. Each works tirelessly to support this industry. Joining the bipartisan Travel and Tourism Caucus, chaired by Congressmen Jo 

Bonner and Sam Farr, is also a great way to join the solution. 

To simply summarize, tourism creates jobs. 

Thank you, Chairman Terry, for showing your leadership on this 

very important issue and allowing me to share northern Nevada’s 

experience. And I look forward to answering any questions you may 

have. 

Mr. TERRY. Well done. 

Ms. ZADRA. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Zadra follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. Ms. Speckman, you are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF GINA SPECKMAN 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Hi. Chairman Terry, Ranking Member 

Schakowsky, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to testify about the importance of tourism to our economy. 

My name is Gina Speckman, and I am the executive director of 

Chicago’s North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau. I have 

worked in the travel and tourism industry for 25 years, and I have 

had the opportunity to see the benefits of the convention industry 

during my tenure at the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau 

and the impact on smaller communities in my current position representing the cities just north of Chicago. 

The great recession inflicted damage on almost every sector of 

the American economy, including travel. Travel, however, has 

bounced back from the downturn far more quickly than any other 

industry. 

In the cities I represent, the local hotel tax that is paid for by 

visitors is a trusted revenue stream made even more attractive as 

it is not paid for by local residents. Even during the economic 

downturn, when drastic cuts were made to the budgets of the municipalities I represent, the dollars invested in the convention and 

visitors bureaus remained intact. Why? Because the investment in 

tourism promotion has a proven track record of performance, and 

in tough economic times the incremental revenue brought in by 

visitors is more important than ever. 

Dollars derived from tourism is also an important mechanism for 

funding economic development initiatives. In the city of Evanston, 

for example, the hotel tax funds the economic development department and all the initiatives they undertake to bring technology, retail, and manufacturing businesses to the city. Thus, not only does 

tourism benefit the businesses that count and only thrive with visitor dollars, but the taxes derived by increased visitation is the 

backbone of these entire cities’ economic development plans. 

Of all the revenue sources that flow into the State of Illinois, the 

hotel tax revenue is growing faster than all other State taxes, higher than liquor, sales, cigarette, motor fuel, gaming, or income taxes. 

In 2012, the hotel tax in Illinois increased 23.42 percent over the 

year. 

The travel and tourism industry has rebounded back to the levels we were at before the recession. In 2012, $2.3 billion in taxes were 

created by tourists in Illinois, representing 93.3 million visitors. 

How many other industries can boast this growth? 

And, of course, one of the main metrics of economic health is 

jobs. On Chicago’s North Shore, 1 out of every 10 jobs is related 

to hospitality and tourism. When the recession ended, hotels and 

restaurants immediately brought on new employees to meet the demand. Though many frontline jobs in our industry are entry-level, 

many are not. And our industry is very proud of the fact that we 

nurture, develop, and promote talent. Show me a general manager 

of a major hotel, and I promise you he or she started as a bellman 

or a front desk clerk. Our jobs cannot be outsourced, and we immediately have the infrastructure to hire staff quickly. 

86 

In 2010, the Travel Promotion Act was signed into law, which resulted in the creation of Brand USA, allowing our country to have 

a national advertising presence in the international marketplace. 

Prior to its establishment, the U.S. Had no cohesive international 

presence, and other countries benefited from our absence by taking 

our visitors. 

In a short time, Brand USA has established advertising programs that have allowed States, convention bureaus, and private 

tourism entities the ability to co-market our product and be part 

of this big effort. For my area, it allows me to finally market internationally in a way that was not available to me previously or was 

cost-prohibitive. Partnering with Brand USA in the State of Illinois, I will now have videos and online marketing materials in different languages backed by the advertising force afforded Brand 

USA. 

My constituents are thrilled, and we finally feel that the tide has 

turned in fighting for the international visitor dollar. In April 2014, 

Chicago is hosting International Pow Wow, which is the international convention of tour operators, and we are very excited to 

be a part of it. 

Now that Brand USA has established focus to position the U.S. 

as a premier destination for visitors, we need to continue the momentum of increasing the amount of visitors coming to our country. 

Passage of the JOLT Act, House bill 1354, would allow travelers 

from countries closely tied to the U.S.—Poland, Israel, Chile, 

Brazil—to be part of the Visa Waiver Program, expand the successful Global Entry program, and reduce visa wait times. I encourage 

you to include provisions of the JOLT Act in any comprehensive 

immigration reform package. 

Also, the Travel Promotion Act, as you have heard, is coming up 

for reauthorization in 2015, and we encourage you to please promote that. 

Thank you for allowing me to testify. 

Mr. TERRY. Well done. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Speckman follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. Mr. Witsell, you are recognized for your 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF RALPH WITSELL 

Mr. WITSELL. Thank you, Chairman Terry and distinguished 

members of the subcommittee, and the Ranking Member Waxman 

also, for having me here. 

For the record, I am Ralph Witsell, the executive director of the 

Discover Torrance Visitors Bureau. We are a 501(c) nonprofit organization funded by the Torrance hotels of 50 or more rooms. 

And for logistics, Torrance, California, is situated about 12 miles 

south of the Los Angeles International Airport. And our goals are 

designed to increase the economies of the city through sustained 

growth in tourism spending, which results in significant increases 

in the economic impact of the areas of earnings, tax collections, and 

jobs. 

We have come to Washington to demonstrate how tourism impacts economic development. The U.S. Travel Association, in March 

of this year, announced that travel and tourism generates $2 trillion for our economy and supports one out of every eight of our Nation’s jobs. These results have been achieved with an industry becoming more focused and unified while working together. 

And I would like to localize my approach to the subject of tourism, collaboration, and jobs. Like so many working Americans with 

me, my position was eliminated and I was laid off in early 2010, 

and I became a statistic in regards to unemployment. I was fortunate to land a tourism job and really appreciated and respected a 

community that developed this tourism organization and allowed 

me to be the next new job in California. In turn, I needed an assistant and a sales manager, and just like that, tourism created two 

more jobs. Wow, this system is great. 

The incremental room nights my staff has booked impacted hotel 

revenue, as well as the dollars the visitors have spent in my community have definitely been a plus. Here we are, little Torrance, 

California, now getting our share of the California drive market, 

plus a few meetings. 

I know, small stuff when you look at the big picture regarding 

tourism and all the discussion here today, but it gets better. I am 

a huge supporter of collaboration and realize that regional marketing creates even more economic development. So I approached 

my neighboring cities, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach, and we agreed to market the region as ‘‘the Beach 

Cities, South Bay, Los Angeles.’’ So now I am not just promoting 

one city but my city, Torrance, as the gateway to the South Bay’s 

beach cities. This new recognition makes the region much more 

marketable, accessible, and provides a true southern California experience for the visitor. 

Now, Discover Torrance is primed to be a player in the international arena. But even with the partnership with the beaches, it 

probably won’t be enough of a factor to say to a young middle-class 

Chinese couple searching on the Internet in Shanghai to focus on 

the South Bay of Los Angeles for their first visit to the United 

States. This is where we collaborated with Visit California, our 

State’s tourism agency, and, also, we are soon going to collaborate 

with Brand USA, who both regularly travel abroad hosting sales 

92 

missions to promote California. These cooperative opportunities 

allow smaller communities to promote their respective regions right 

along with well-known icons such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles. 

In closing, I would like to state that California is reaping the 

fruits of our labor, as international travel is California’s top export. 

According to Visit California, the $19.1 billion spent in California 

in 2011 was equal to the combined value of the State’s top four 

product exports. 

According to a January 2013 report by the Legislative Analyst’s 

Office, ‘‘Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector consistently outpaces almost every other industry. Even during the great 

recession, while California was shedding 1.3 million jobs, travel 

businesses lost fewer than most. And leisure and hospitality has 

recovered quickly, adding more than 100,000 jobs since February of 

2010. And it is the number-five employer with the State.’’ 

And, with that, Mr. Chair, that concludes my testimony. 

Mr. TERRY. Well done. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Witsell follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. And, Ms. Nicholson-Doty, I appreciate your attendance. You are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF BEVERLY NICHOLSON-DOTY 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Good afternoon, Chairman Terry and subcommittee members. Thank you for this opportunity. I am Beverly 

Nicholson-Doty, commissioner of tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I bring you greetings from my home and on behalf of 

the Caribbean Tourism Organization, which I chair. 

The President’s Executive order announcing a set of initiatives to 

significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States is a 

major step forward for the world’s biggest travel and tourism economy. It is also an opportunity for our territory, the USVI, to look 

at how we might secure new opportunities arising from this bold 

initiative. 

We welcome the administration’s goal of attracting 100 million 

international travelers by 2021. Since the announcement, we are 

pleased to learn strong progress has been made, both through the 

Executive order establishing a national travel and tourism strategy 

and through a series of improvements to the visa processing. 

The government’s comprehensive approach will benefit our growing industry by drawing on the skills of different parts of the U.S. 

Government. We respectfully urge you to ensure that the Department of Commerce receives the support to enhance the profitability 

of an industry which supports the direct employment of more than 

7.7 million Americans. 

We are most encouraged by the launch of Brand USA’s international campaign to increase visitation to the United States. The 

U.S. is seeing increased demand in the global travel market, and 

we look for ways of attracting some of these new visitors to our 

shores. 

The President’s strategy to expand the Visa Waiver Program, 

coupled with increased funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and TSA, strengthens national security while encouraging 

legitimate overseas visitors. Full funding of the FAA programs also 

strengthens our safety and security efforts. Expanding the program 

will create jobs and bolster our economy by welcoming millions of 

new international visitors to the United States. 

We urge our Federal authorities to review visa and entry procedures for cruise passengers. Currently, some cruise lines are avoiding U.S. Ports on their itineraries. One reason cited is the extensive time to process foreign arrivals. This makes disembarking a 

lengthy and costly process. 

The development of the National Travel and Tourism Strategy is 

critically important for smaller parts of the country like the U.S. 

Virgin Islands because, among others things, it stresses the need 

to focus on all our country’s tourism destinations in a more consolidated fashion. This is much needed for offshore destinations like 

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

It is critically important for island territories of the United 

States to have a voice in the implementation of the President’s initiative to ensure our distinctive issues are addressed. We can also 

bring a unique perspective to the design of this plan. 

97 

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the tourism industry is now even 

more critical since the closing of the Hovensa oil refinery on St. 

Croix. 

This event caused the loss of thousands of jobs, with an estimated 20 percent impact on our economy. 

In addition, the extremely high cost of energy in the U.S. Virgin 

Islands places enormous pressure on the tourism industry’s bottom 

line. As an island territory, we are especially reliant on airlift, so 

the Department of Commerce Survey of International Air Travelers 

is a particularly valuable source of information. 

We regard airlines as an integral part of our infrastructure. Just 

like roadways and bridges on the mainland, without these aerial 

highways, we cannot fly visitors to our islands. Without reliable 

airlift, we would be confined to the backwaters of the global economy and perhaps be a drain on the U.S. taxpayers. We will all benefit from the information collected, and we urge Congress to support the continuation of this survey called for in the Travel Promotion Act. 

Another critically important issue is devoting resources to develop our sustainable tourism industry. This is especially true for 

a territory, like ours, rich in natural resources and cultural heritage. Working in partnership with Federal agencies to conserve our 

natural resources while making them more accessible to travelers 

is an important step in the enhancement of tourism. 

In closing, tourism sustainably developed and in harmony with 

a national tourism strategy enhances our environment, our culture, 

our wealth, our education, our health, and our security, and a vibrant visitor industry keeps our people gainfully employed. 

Thank you. 

Mr. TERRY. Well done. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Nicholson-Doty follows:] 

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Mr. TERRY. I will start the first questions with you, Ms. Nicholson-Doty. You had mentioned with the cruise industry the—will 

you describe again the problems when they want to pull into a port 

in the United States and the visas? You had mentioned there is a 

problem. 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Yes. 

Mr. TERRY. Please state that again. 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Yes. There is a movement among several 

of the smaller but very upscale cruise lines where they are avoiding 

U.S. ports. We find that they are homeported in other places outside of the U.S., and the reason being is that if it takes 2 or 3 

hours for a cruise line to clear on embarking in a territory, it affects our commerce, it affects their bottom line. And, therefore, 

they are avoiding U.S. ports. 

Mr. TERRY. Is this something inherent to the Virgin Islands, a 

territory, versus Miami? 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. I think that we are seeing some of the 

smaller lines, where they indeed have a higher demographic, that 

they are avoiding U.S. ports all together. 

Mr. TERRY. OK. That is interesting. 

We actually invited the cruise industry to be part of this panel, 

and they declined. I am not sure why. They are a big part of it. 

So I am a little disappointed in that. But that is interesting that 

you bring that issue up. 

For Mr. Witsell and Mr. Seccombe, you come from big States 

with big budgets for tourism. Some detractors of Brand USA would 

say there isn’t a need for a redundant Federal program. Do you believe it is redundant? How do the two work together? 

Mr. Seccombe, you first, then Mr. Witsell. 

And, by the way, Mr. Witsell, I think it is interesting, in your 

testimony you said that you were going to use Brand USA. So I 

think you have a little slightly different perspective on this than 

Mr. Seccombe from Florida. 

Mr. SECCOMBE. Mr. Chairman, I believe it is important to recognize that the global tourism industry is hypercompetitive, and the 

United States and every destination within the United States are 

competing against countries and destinations around the world for 

precious, you know, vacation time and hard-earned dollars. And, 

again, it is incredibly competitive. And the United States having 

the opportunity through Brand USA to compete at an international 

level will—again, from my perspective, a rise in tide raises all 

ships. And Florida, as a, you know, number-one travel destination 

in the world, it is going to benefit from that. 

However, I think we are also a microcosm of the United States, 

as well. Florida has 19 million people. We have Miami and Walt 

Disney World and some great businesses. But, also, as we talk 

about cultural and heritage, this is our 500th year since Juan 

Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. And we spend an awful lot of 

time making sure that every destination within the State has the 

opportunity to capitalize on what is our biggest industry. 

So I think Brand USA is faced with a similar challenge as we 

have, is that it is not just the big destinations or the big ports, but 

once we expose travelers from around the world to the United 

106 

States, they will travel across the United States, and their money 

will follow. 

Mr. TERRY. Mr. Witsell? 

Mr. WITSELL. Thank you, Chairman Terry. 

In regards to Brand USA or either Visit California, basically our 

challenges as a smaller, say, secondary destination is we need recognition. And so, by collaborating with these two organizations and 

being able to take advantage of their distribution channels, of their 

sales missions in, say, Shanghai or China or Mexico or Canada, it 

just makes sense, in regards to my smaller budget, for me to take 

advantage of the expertise in the international market. 

I have been with the Torrance Bureau, running it for the last 7 

months. And, basically, there has always been a feeling within 

California to support Visit California. But if you look at the opportunity to make sure that we are not missing anything, I think it 

behooves us to look at every opportunity available. 

Mr. TERRY. Quickly, for each of you, starting with the gentleman 

from Florida, Mr. Seccombe, tell me what you feel is the greatest 

barrier preventing or inhibiting in any way foreign travelers from 

coming into your area. 

Mr. SECCOMBE. I believe the single biggest challenge right now 

is one of marketing and continuing to raise awareness of the 

United States as a destination, certainly Florida. 

We do have challenges that I think continue to be important with 

our border control and making sure that we are providing, one, security on one hand but also a welcoming experience on the other, 

to make it easy so that visitors from around the world are not coming to our airports and waiting 3 or 4 hours to clear customs and 

to go through border security. So I think that that would be the 

single biggest issue near-term. 

And I think long-term our challenge is going to be to continue 

to invest in the transportation infrastructures, that we provide the 

kind of welcome that visitors are accustomed to. 

Mr. TERRY. Well, this is a little bit more of a lightning round, 

with 1 minute left. 

Ms. Zadra? 

Ms. ZADRA. The lightning-round or the easy answer would be: 

Ditto, absolutely ditto for the State of Nevada. The transportation 

piece is critical for us, as is the marketing budget. 

I would add to that a severe need still for the easier, more timely 

issuance of the visas. It has had a remarkable, in a negative way, 

impact on the State. We had an experience in Reno alone where 

an international piece of business that we sought and achieved actually performed at about 20 percent of its international draw because of the visa issue. 

Mr. TERRY. Ms. Speckman? 

Ms. SPECKMAN. I think customs and the experience of the traveler coming into Chicago O’Hare is an issue for us. We just started 

and the city of Chicago is investing $5 million in upgrading our airport, but it still doesn’t address the customs issue and the staffing 

of customs, which are not part of the airport’s control. You can 

have a plane landing and you will have 300 people come off and 

only 2 people working. And it has to do with issues of hiring and 

hours and union rules. But the experience of the traveler is waiting 

107 

in line for hours in a very unwelcoming environment of an older 

airport. 

So a lot of our gateway airports, you know—every time I am in 

the airport in New York, there are buckets. Anytime it rains, there 

are buckets on the floor. The infrastructure of our airports compared to our competitors in the world is lagging. 

Mr. TERRY. All right. 

My time has expired. I apologize, Mr. Witsell and Ms. NicholsonDoty. 

Now I recognize the gentlelady from Chicago, Ms. Schakowsky. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

So, visits to the United States are highly concentrated in five 

States. I am sure everybody knows them: New York, Florida, California, Nevada, and Hawaii. I am sure that many visitors also 

come to the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

And it has always been sort of, I don’t know, frustrating to me, 

when I talk to international visitors, why more of them don’t come 

to the central part of the country, don’t come to Chicago, to the 

Midwest. I was encouraged by what Mr. Dow said earlier about 

visitors looking for authenticity and wanting to get a real feel of 

the United States. And there is no more welcoming place, I think, 

than the Midwest and Chicago. 

So I am wondering, Ms. Speckman, how do you broaden the 

base? I certainly want visitors to go to all these other places, too, 

to these five other States who depend so much on tourism, but how 

do you broaden the base? And how has Brand America helped do 

that? 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Well, Brand USA has—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Brand USA. 

Ms. SPECKMAN. You know, it just started, too. And the State of 

Illinois is now a partner with Brand USA. And, just last week, it 

announced a program to all the convention bureaus in Illinois 

which will allow us to co-op and market our areas and produce collateral and video in different languages that is now affordable to 

us. Through Brand USA and through the State underwriting a 

major portion of it, we now can get involved. 

And, really, now, what we do in trying to get the travelers to 

come to the Midwest and Chicago is to market to what people are 

looking for, and that is experiences. Yes, people know the big-name 

cities, but people really want to come and see the United States. 

And a big draw in our area is Route 66, which starts in Chicago 

and goes to California. 

We rely heavily, too, on some icons we have, like Lincoln. The 

movie ‘‘Lincoln’’ premiered this year, won the Academy Award. 

Well, they did a lot of promotion in the openings, the State of Illinois did, in Europe when that movie opened. 

So what we are really trying to do is show Chicago as a city. A 

lot of times, it takes people coming to Chicago to see how beautiful 

it is, and returning. And we—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. People are often shocked by that. 

Ms. SPECKMAN. They are always shocked by that. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I know. 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Exactly. They are always shocked that they always love it. That is why it is very important that we are hosting 

108 

all the tour operators from around the world in Chicago in April 

2014, because they will see our area. And I am bringing them up 

to the North Shore, too. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I wanted to ask you that, too. I saw you kind 

of identifying it, it has felt like, with Mr. Witsell, talking about, 

you know, Chicago is one thing, but then how do you get people 

out of the city and come to the North Shore? I mean, what are the 

messages that you want to convey, and what are the conveniences 

or whatever? What is the attraction? 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Well, we work a lot with Choose Chicago, which 

is the Chicago bureau. And we are in their visitors centers, we take 

part in a lot of their advertising and marketing programs, so that 

people that want to see the Chicago Botanic Garden, which is actually not in the city of Chicago but on the North Shore, or want to 

come to Northwestern University or the Baha’i House of Worship, 

which is the only one in the Western Hemisphere, let alone the 

United States—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I just took some visitors there last weekend, 

yes. 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Yes, I mean, that is on the North Shore. So people think things are in Chicago when really they are in the outlying regions. So we really try to work together to do that. 

Also, I have collateral that I do that tells downtown concierges 

to tell people how to take the city train: This is the stop you get 

at, this is how many minutes it takes, here is what you can do 

when you get off on the L or the metro station in Chicago on the 

North Shore. 

And then, also, we kind of try to work and we market to people 

before they come to the area. You can take the Chicago train from 

Evanston to a Cubs game quicker, easier, and cheaper than you 

can from staying downtown, where it costs $50 a night to park and 

$300 a night to stay in a hotel. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. And how are you funded? And how are these 

travel organizations funded? 

Ms. SPECKMAN. Well, every State is different and every bureau 

is different. But, in Illinois, half of the funding of most of the bureaus comes from the State of Illinois. It has a very aggressive 

tourism program. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. OK. 

Ms. SPECKMAN. So a 6 percent hotel tax goes to the State, and 

we get a portion of it. So that is half of our funding, and the rest 

is through municipality support and membership. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. OK. 

Unfortunately, my time is up. Thank you very much. 

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. 

And, by the way, according to our tourism, the most visited place 

by Omahans is Chicago. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Yes. 

Mr. TERRY. So, you are welcome. 

Now, Dr. Christensen, you are recognized for your 5 minutes. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you. We would welcome them to the 

Virgin Islands, too. But thank you. 

And thank you, Ms. Speckman, for mentioning the travel and 

tourism task force that we have here, the steering committee. I 

109 

have been on it since coming to Congress, and I am glad that they 

are becoming active again. 

I would like to ask my commissioner a question. 

2017 is a big year for the Virgin Islands that is probably not 

well-known. Could you explain what it is and maybe some of the 

plans of how we can use that time to expand on our tourism product and what role maybe the subcommittee or Congress should be 

playing in it? 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Well, we have two important things. First 

of all, it celebrates our transfer from—2017 will celebrate 100 years 

of our transfer from Denmark to the United States. So this is a 

major event for us in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Also, it represents 7 percent of our—7 percent of our business is 

international business. Of that, a full half comes from the Scandinavian countries. However, there are cities within the U.S., like 

Solvang, California, where there is a very heavy Danish population. What we are looking at for 2017 is how we make that entire 

triangle. We look at visits from Denmark to the U.S. Virgin Islands, which we have been extremely successful with, but also how 

do we tie it in and in some cases to smaller areas in non-major cities in the U.S. where we can have linkages. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Denmark, South Carolina. Minnesota, where 

there are—— 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Absolutely. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN [continuing]. A lot of Scandinavians, as well. 

Thank you. 

I just wanted to make a couple of comments, as well, apart from 

the fact that I wanted to highlight the fact that we will be celebrating 100 years of being a part of the United States family in 

2017. But one thing that always troubles me, and I notice that government travel is just a very small percentage of U.S. travel, but 

any travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands by Congress or by government 

agencies is always seen as a junket. 

And, you know, I would like to invite this subcommittee to begin 

to change that by perhaps having a hearing in the U.S. Virgin Islands to discuss some of the concerns that we have—some of the 

concerns that we have that come under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee. 

One other area that is important to us—and I don’t know if you 

wanted to comment on this. Well, I probably shouldn’t ask you to 

comment on it, as chair of CTO. But, you know, the Virgin Islands 

adheres to all the minimum wage—the minimum wage, all of the 

labor and other laws. And so that makes us somewhat noncompetitive with some of our Caribbean neighbors who don’t have to pay 

the high wages or be in accord with some of those laws. 

We do have the benefit of duty-free. And, at some point, I know 

this is not in the committee’s jurisdiction, but we would be asking 

to increase our duty-free allowance to make us more competitive 

with our Caribbean neighbors. And we would ask for the support 

of both the industry and the committee. 

I heard Ms. Matthews talk about, in her response to me, about 

airports. And are there any plans to improve on our airports, to expand our airports? I don’t know where you would grade them on 

a scale of 1 to 10, but she seemed to put a lot of importance on—— 

110 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Absolutely. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN [continuing]. The airport experience. 

Ms. NICHOLSON-DOTY. Absolutely. And I think that it is a critical 

area for the Virgin Islands. 

We have two airports. The St. Thomas airport, which is considered a medium-size airport, with approximately 700,000 visitors 

that come through that airport each year, is certainly in need of 

an upgrade, especially if you compare it to the region, the Caribbean region, in terms of the improvements that are being made. 

But as you look internationally, as well, at the airports, airports 

are a significant source of—it is the gateway, it is the gateway to 

a destination. And so, looking at our airports is very critical, and 

the upgrade that is needed in comparison to the rest of the world. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Well, thank you. 

I don’t have any further questions, but I look forward to having 

a subcommittee hearing in the Virgin Islands in the near future. 

Mr. TERRY. If we can drive there, we can have a field hearing. 

That is, I think, a new rule. 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Oh. Seriously? 

Mr. TERRY. Well, it is unstated at this point. None of us have 

had the guts yet to ask for a field hearing. 

So I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. That 

concludes all of the questions that we have for you. Thank you for 

coming here. 

And this is a really important issue. This is about jobs that can’t 

be outsourced and hundreds of billions or even now one gentleman 

said, when you put in all the indirect jobs and money, it is a trillion-dollar industry. So I want to thank you for being here. 

And this won’t be our last hearing on the subject. Maybe the last 

for this month on this subject, but we will have more because of 

its importance to our economy. 

Now, a couple of housekeeping notes. I ask unanimous consent 

to include in the record a statement from the American Motorcycle 

Association. And it has been shared with the minority, so—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Without objection. 

Mr. TERRY. Without objection then. Hearing none, so ordered. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Mr. TERRY. And I remind Members that they have 10 days to 

submit their questions for the record. 

And I would ask you guys, if you receive questions from any of 

the Members, a prompt response is requested. And, by the way, 

prompt for some, usually with more government agencies, is not 6 

months. 

At this time, we are dismissed. 

[Whereupon, at 12:55 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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