I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2579

To establish the National Tourism Board and the National Tourism

Organization to promote international travel and tourism to the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 2, 1995

Mr. ROTH (for himself, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. PETRI, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. FRAZER, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. OXLEY, Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. ZELIFF, Mr. BOEHLERT,

Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DIXON, Mr. ROEMER,

Mrs. SEASTRAND, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. OBERSTAR, and

Mr. FARR of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on

International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To establish the National Tourism Board and the National

Tourism Organization to promote international travel

and tourism to the United States.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Travel and Tourism

5 Partnership Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TOURISM BOARD.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Na3 tional Tourism Board to—

4 (1) utilize a private-public partnership for trav5 el and tourism policymaking;

6 (2) develop a national travel and tourism strat7 egy for increasing travel and tourism to and within

8 the United States;

9 (3) to advise the President, the Congress, and

10 the travel and tourism industry on the implementa11 tion of such national strategy and on other matters

12 affecting travel and tourism; and

13 (4) to provide guidance to the National Tour14 ism Organization established under section 3.

15 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall consist of 36

16 members appointed by the President as follows—

17 (1) 27 members shall be appointed from indi18 viduals who represent all the ranges of the travel

19 and tourism industry;

20 (2) 6 members shall be appointed from State,

21 regional, and Federal agencies related to travel and

22 tourism;

23 (3) 1 member shall be appointed from the Sen24 ate and 1 member shall be appointed from the

25 House of Representatives; and
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1 (4) a chairman shall be appointed by and with

2 the advice of the Senate.

3 In making appointments to the Board, the President shall

4 take into account recommendations made by organizations

5 representing the travel and tourism industry. The chair6 man shall be accountable to the President and the Con7 gress for the operations of the Board.

8 (c) TERMS.—The members and chairman of the

9 Board shall be appointed for terms of 3 years, except that

10 of the members first appointed—

11 (1) 12 members shall be appointed for a term

12 of 1 year;

13 (2) 12 members shall be appointed for a term

14 of 2 years; and

15 (3) 11 members and the chairman shall be ap16 pointed for a term of 3 years,

17 as determined by the President as of the date of the first

18 appointments. A member may be reappointed to serve on

19 the Board.

20 (d) AUTHORITY.—

21 (1) NON-FEDERAL STATUS.—The Board is not

22 a Federal agency and is not subject to any Federal

23 law, including the Federal Advisory Commission Act

24 and personnel and budget laws.
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1 (2) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The chairman of

2 the Board may appoint an executive director and es3 tablish the compensation and the duties of the exec4 utive director.

5 (3) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at least

6 semi-annually. The meetings shall be open to the

7 public and appropriate notice shall be given for the

8 meeting dates.

9 (4) COMPENSATION AND EXPENSES.—The

10 chairman and members of the Board shall serve

11 without compensation but may be compensated for

12 expenses incurred in carrying out the duties of the

13 Board.

14 (5) TESTIMONY, REPORTS, AND SUPPORT.—The

15 Board may present testimony to the Congress and to

16 legislatures of the States and issue reports on its

17 findings and recommendations.

18 (6) CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Board may accept

19 financial contributions from the private sector to

20 cover the expenses of the Board.

21 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION.

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established with a

23 Federal charter the National Tourism Organization. The

24 Organization shall be a non-for-profit organization. The
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1 Organization is not a Federal agency and shall not be sub2 ject to any Federal law.

3 (b) DUTIES.—The Organization shall—

4 (1) seek to, and work for, an increase in the

5 share of the United States in the global tourism

6 market;

7 (2) implement the national travel and tourism

8 strategy developed by the National Tourism Board

9 under section 2(a)(2);

10 (3) operate travel and tourism promotion pro11 grams outside the United States in partnership with

12 the travel and tourism industry in the United

13 States;

14 (4) conduct market research necessary for ef15 fective promotion of the travel and tourism market;

16 (5) establish a Travel-Tourism Data Bank, col17 lect international market data for the Bank, and dis18 seminate such data to the travel and tourism indus19 try in the United States; and

20 (6) promote United States travel and tourism

21 at international trade shows.

22 (c) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The Organization shall

23 be governed by a Board of Directors (hereinafter in this

24 section ‘‘Board’’), which shall have 45 members. The

25 Board shall be accountable to the National Tourism Board
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1 for the operations of the Organization. The President shall

2 appoint the initial members of the Board, taking into ac3 count recommendations made by organizations represent4 ing the travel and tourism industry so that all the ranges

5 of the travel and tourism industry are represented on the

6 Board. By majority vote, members of the Board shall se7 lect one member to be chairman and shall adopt bylaws,

8 policies and procedures to govern the duties of the chair9 man, the term of service of members of the Board, the

10 functioning of the Board and the operations of the Organi11 zation. The Board shall appoint new members to fill any

12 vacancy on the Board.

13 (d) STAFF.—The Board shall appoint a president of

14 the Organization and such other staff as the Board deter15 mines is necessary. The Board shall establish the duties

16 of the staff and set the compensation of the staff. The

17 president of the Organization shall serve as a member of

18 the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee.

19 (e) FUNDING.—The Organization may accept finan20 cial contributions. Within one year of the date of the en21 actment of this Act, the Board shall develop a plan for

22 long-term financing and, if necessary, make recommenda23 tions to the Congress and the President for legislation.
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1 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT COOPERATION.

2 (a) SECRETARY OF STATE.—The Secretary of State

3 shall—

4 (1) place a priority on implementing rec5 ommendations by the National Tourism Board; and

6 (2) cooperate with the National Tourism Orga7 nization in carrying out its duties.

8 (b) DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES INFORMA9 TION AGENCY.—The Director of the United States Infor10 mation Agency shall—

11 (1) place a priority on implementing rec12 ommendations by the National Tourism Board; and

13 (2) cooperate with the National Tourism Orga14 nization in carrying out its duties.

15 SEC. 5. TRANSITION FROM THE UNITED STATES TRAVEL

16 AND TOURISM ADMINISTRATION.

17 (a) STAFF.—The President may transfer up to 25

18 members of the staff of the United States Travel and

19 Tourism Administration established under section 301 of

20 the International Travel Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2124)

21 to the Foreign Service or the Commercial Service for 2

22 years. Such staff members shall assist the Organization

23 in its start-up activities.

24 (b) FILES AND OTHER RESOURCES.—The files and

25 other non-financial resources of the United States Travel
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1 and Tourism Administration are transferred to the United

2 States Foreign and Commercial Service.

3 SEC. 6. TRADE PROMOTION COORDINATING COMMITTEE.

4 Section 2312 of the Export Enhancement Act of

5 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727) is amended—

6 (1) in subsection (c) by adding at the end

7 thereof:

8 ‘‘(6) reflect recommendations by the National

9 Tourism Board.’’

10 and

11 (2) in paragraph (d)(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ in

12 ‘‘(L)’’, by redesignating ‘‘(M)’’ as ‘‘(N)’’, and by in13 serting the following:

14 ‘‘(M) the President of the National Tour15 ism Organization; and’’.

16 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

17 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘Organization’’

18 means the National Tourism Organization established

19 under section 3.

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