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WHERE THE JOBS ARE: PROMOTING TOURISM 

TO AMERICA 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, 

AND TRADE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

MAY 16, 2012 

Serial No. 112–144 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

Chairman 

JOE BARTON, Texask 

Chairman Emeritus 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MARY BONO MACK, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

SUE WILKINS MYRICK, North Carolina 

Vice Chairman 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

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 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

Ranking Member 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

Chairman Emeritus 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

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 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

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 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, AND TRADE

MARY BONO MACK, California 

Chairman 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

Vice Chairman 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey 

BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia 

MIKE POMPEO, Kansas 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

FRED UPTON, Michigan (ex officio) 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

Ranking Member 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JIM MATHESON, Utah 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California (ex officio) 

(II) 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hon. Mary Bono Mack, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

California, opening statement ............................................................................. 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 4 

Hon. G.K. Butterfield, a Representative in Congress from the State of North 

Carolina, opening statement ............................................................................... 7 

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

of Illinois, opening statement .............................................................................. 8 

Hon. Marsha Blackburn, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Tennessee, opening statement ............................................................................ 9 

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

California, opening statement ............................................................................. 10 

WITNESSES

Hon. Mazie K. Hirono, a Representative in Congress from the State of Hawaii ........................................................................................................................ 11

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 

Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale, Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services, 

International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce ..................... 17 

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

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 101 

James P. Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for Travel Promotion, 

a.k.a. Brand USA ................................................................................................. 39 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 

Answers from Caroline Beteta, Interim CEO, Brand USA, Inc., to submitted questions ............................................................................................ 107 

Geoff Freeman, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, U.S. 

Travel Association ................................................................................................ 49 

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

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 114 

Deborah Marriott Harrison, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Marriott International, Inc. ........................................................................................ 60 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 62 

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 122 

Scott White, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Palm Springs 

Convention and Visitors Bureau ......................................................................... 70 

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

Answers to submitted questions ...................................................................... 124 

Patrick T. Long, Center for Sustainable Tourism, Division of Research and 

Graduate Studies, East Carolina University ..................................................... 76 

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

(1) 

WHERE THE JOBS ARE: PROMOTING 

TOURISM TO AMERICA 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND

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

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:22 a.m., in room 

2322, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mary Bono Mack 

(chairwoman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Members present: Representatives Bono Mack, Blackburn, Harper, Lance, Guthrie, Olson, Pompeo, Kinzinger, Butterfield, Gonzalez, Schakowsky, Sarbanes, and Waxman (ex officio). 

Staff present: Paige Anderson, Commerce, Manufacturing, and 

Trade Coordinator; Charlotte Baker, Press Secretary; Kirby Howard, Legislative Clerk; Brian McCullough, Senior Professional Staff 

Member, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Gib Mullan, Chief 

Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Andrew Powaleny, 

Deputy Press Secretary; Sam Spector, Counsel, Oversight; Shannon 

Weinberg, Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; 

Michelle Ash, Democratic Chief Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Felipe Mendoza, Democratic Counsel; and Will 

Wallace, Democratic Policy Analyst. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARY BONO MACK, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Mrs. BONO MACK. The subcommittee will now come to order. 

Good morning. 

When it comes to jobs and the economy, tourism is a common 

thread that weaves its way through all 50 States. The leisure and 

hospitality sector is now the fifth largest employer in the United 

States. As a subcommittee what can we do to promote growth in 

this critically important industry? I am reminded of something St. 

Augustine once said: The world is a book, and those who do not 

travel read only one page. 

The chair now recognizes herself for an opening statement. 

Rebounding from both a prolonged recession and the demoralizing 9/11 terrorist attacks on our Nation, tourism is once again 

a growth industry in America. Clearly, sustaining that growth as 

well as creating long-term stability in the tourism marketplace are 

keys to creating tens of thousands of new jobs across the United 

States. The President’s Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness 

2 

has set a lofty goal of attracting 100 million international visitors 

who spend $250 billion annually by the end of 2021. Can we accomplish that goal? Well, as chairman of the subcommittee, here is my 

answer: Let us roll up our sleeves and get to work. 

Today tourism is among the top 3 employers in 29 States, and 

it is the number 1 industry in my district, which includes Palm 

Springs, Palm Desert, Coachella, and the entire Coachella Valley. Last year tourism nationwide generated $1.2 trillion in economic 

activity and supported nearly 8 million jobs. But here is what is 

really encouraging: In 2011, travel and tourism in America grew by 

3–1/2 percent, more than twice the rate of growth for the entire 

economy. And there is more good news. The U.S. has set records 

for international visits in 4 of the last 5 years. Today more money 

is spent on tourism in the U.S. than in any other country around 

the world. 

So how do we sustain that growth and create even more American jobs? One important way is to maximize the effectiveness of 

the Travel Promotion Act, which Congress approved in 2010 with 

bipartisan support. The act created the nonprofit Corporation for 

Travel Promotion, or CTP, with specific duties intended to increase 

international travel to the U.S. These duties include providing information to foreign travelers, such as U.S. entry requirements, 

fees and required documentation; identifying and correcting 

misperceptions regarding U.S. entry policies; maximizing economic 

and diplomatic benefits of travel to the U.S. through advertising, 

outreach and trade shows; ensuring that international travel benefits all States; and identifying strategies to promote travel to rural 

and urban areas equally; and finally, placing a priority on countries whose citizens are most likely to travel to the U.S. 

The CTP is funded through a transfer of fees collected from 

international travelers who access the Electronic System for Travel 

Authorization system for visitors under the Visa Waiver Program. 

The fee is currently set at $14, of which $4 is dedicated to maintaining the ESTA system, and the remaining $10 is directed to the 

Treasury to be held for CTP. 

The Secretary of the Treasury may transfer up to $100 million 

per year of these funds to the CTP, but first the CTP must raise 

matching funds through contributions of industry members. The 

Treasury Secretary’s authority to collect these fees will sunset on 

September 30th of 2015. Should these fees be renewed in the future? Should they be increased? How effective has CTP been in promoting tourism? These are all critically important questions which 

we will have an opportunity to ask today. 

Among those testifying at this hearing is James Evans, chief executive officer for the Corporation for Travel Promotion, known as 

Brand USA. I am also anxious to hear the thoughts of our administration witness, the Honorable Nicole Lamb-Hale, who serves as 

Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services at the International Trade Administration. The Department of Commerce 

through ITA is responsible for strengthening U.S. competitiveness, 

promoting trade and investment, and enforcing trade laws and 

agreements. 

Here is the challenge: If we are going to achieve the administration’s tourism goals within the next decade, both ITA and CTP will 

3 

have to step up their games in the years ahead. While the numbers 

of the visitors to the U.S. has grown impressively, increasing from 

41 million in 2003 to 62.3 million in 2011, how do we get to 100 

million visitors by 2021? What could hold back that growth, and is 

there a plan B? 

As we found out all too painfully during the recent recession, the 

tourism industry tends to suffer when times are tough. We witnessed that up front and personal in the Greater Palm Springs 

area when many businesses were forced to close or lay off workers. 

But we can mute that negative economic impact in the future—but 

can we, excuse me, mute that negative economic impact in the future by substantially increasing international travel to the U.S.? 

As I said earlier, given the importance of tourism to the U.S. 

economy, and given the promise of creating tens of thousands of 

new American jobs, it is our job to make certain that we have a 

sound strategy and forward-looking policies in place which will 

positively promote the U.S. around the world, provide international 

travelers with a unique experience, and leave them with lasting 

treasured memories of their trip to the U.S. After all, there is no 

better travel promotion in the world than having a friend plug 

their visit to another friend. 

And on that note don’t forget that the Palm Springs area is a 

fabulous place to visit anytime during the year, and the welcome 

sign is always out. 

[The prepared statement of Mrs. Bono Mack follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. With that, the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Butterfield, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 

Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, is now recognized for 5 minutes for his opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. G.K. BUTTERFIELD, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH 

CAROLINA 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank 

you for holding today’s hearing on this very important topic of tourism and how we can work together to promote tourism here in our 

great country. And a special welcome to my friend, the gentlelady 

from Hawaii. Thank you very much for coming and spending this 

time with us today. 

The United States is second only to France in the number of annual international visitors it welcomes each year. With all due respect to that country in Europe that we call France, it needs to be 

our goal to move our country into the top spot, and we are moving 

in the right direction. 

In 1996, Congress directed the Department of Commerce to create what would become the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries 

in the International Trade Administration. The goal of that office 

is to enhance the international competitiveness of the U.S. Travel 

and tourism industry and increase its exports, thereby creating 

U.S. employment and economic growth. 

For the last 6 years, OTTI has conducted extensive research and 

has offered policy suggestions on ways to increase international 

travel. I am pleased to see Nicole Lamb-Hale, the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services, here today, and I look forward to hearing her testimony. 

What does tourism mean in real terms? It means jobs, and increased tax revenues, and cultural enrichment, among many other 

things. Boosting international tourism will create new jobs and 

spur economic activities that cannot be outsourced. It takes just 35 

new international travelers to support 1 new U.S. job. Each international visitor to the U.S. will spend about $4,000 while here. 

Considering that we welcomed over 62 million international travelers to the United States last year alone, spending by international travelers can be a boon for local communities and small 

business around the country. 

Today in my home State of North Carolina, the State government is hosting North Carolina Tourism Day, where industry leaders and State government officials and everyday citizens heat with 

legislators and policymakers to learn ways to make the most of 

what our State has to offer. And so the great State of California 

has a lot to offer, and North Carolina on the east coast does as 

well. 

North Carolina visitors spend over $17 billion annually, and are 

responsible for supporting over 200,000 local jobs. I am particularly 

thankful that Dr. Pat Long from East Carolina University Center 

for Sustainable Tourism is here. I am interested to hear his views 

on how adopting sustainable tourism policies can reduce costs to 

industry, help maximize profits, and drive increases in international tourism. 

8 

It is clear that every sector of the economy benefits from increases in tourism, and I stand ready to work with my colleagues 

and you, Madam Chairman, on legislative initiatives that will help 

promote international tourism and create jobs. 

I will also note that there is something we can do that doesn’t 

cost a thing. It is something that we do very well in my home 

State, and it is called just being nice, and greeting people with a 

smile when they come through the door, being polite, saying thank 

you and you are welcome. If we can train the airlines and TSA and 

USCIS to employ the Golden Rule when interacting with international visitors, we can go a long way in breaking down barriers 

to international travel. 

Did you write that? 

With that said, I would like to thank our witnesses for being 

here today and yield the remainder of my time—I will do that later 

on, Ms. Schakowsky. We are going to hold back on that. We will 

yield back at this time. Thank you. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Mr. Butterfield. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Excuse me, did you—— 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I thought he yielded back. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I was told that if I didn’t—let me reclaim my 

time if I can. I was told that if I had less than 2 minutes, I would 

be yielding back. How much time did I have left? It was a minute 

30. 

Would you like that time, Mr. Waxman? 

Mr. WAXMAN. No, I thought you would give—— 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I was told less than 2 minutes to—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I will take it. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. With unanimous consent, I ask permission to 

yield. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. No objection. The gentlelady is recognized. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 

In general, tourism promotion is a bipartisan issue. We appreciate it. In Chicago we have the seventh most significant port of 

entry for international travelers, 1.2 million visitors starting their 

U.S. trips there. And we are going to discuss an important initiative of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, now called Brand 

USA, which was a bipartisan creation, but we can’t pretend that 

both parties are committed to creating an environment that is welcoming to visitors. 

Our witnesses are going to highlight the need for a fast and efficient visa system—I know that there are many countries that we 

would like as more travelers. I was just in Brazil; they would love 

that. Poland, important for Chicago—and a streamlined customs 

process at ports of entry; and efficient transportation infrastructure 

that can handle millions of visitors a year. 

The majority’s budget appropriations bills would not invest in 

any of these priorities. Instead they would make severe cuts in 

them. They are pushing for cuts to the State Department budget, 

9 

infrastructure spending, airports, and even air traffic control. How 

will foreign visitors get here if there aren’t sufficient air traffic controllers on the job to help their planes land safely? 

The travel and tourism sector is a perfect example how the Federal Government’s contributions can build a solid base on which 

the private sector can thrive and together create thousands or millions of jobs, but cutting the vital public side of this coin, I believe, 

is misguided and harmful to our economy. I hope that we could all 

agree on things that in many more ways will promote tourism in 

our country, and I yield back. I yield back to Mr. Butterfield. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you. I reclaim my time and yield back 

the balance. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

The chair now recognizes Mrs. Blackburn of Tennessee. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE 

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

We are all talking about what we think makes our area of the 

country uniquely wonderful, and we do like to promote that. I 

think what concerns us is what we have seen come from this administration in nontraditional and nonsensical policies. And one of 

our greatest promoters of U.S. Tourism, Steve Wynn, had this to 

say, and I am quoting: ‘‘This administration is the greatest wet 

blanket to business and progress in job creation in my lifetime,’’ 

end quote. 

And here is an example. Just recently DOJ levied a new mandate on the hospitality industry requiring each pool and hot tub to 

come equipped with a pool lift. Each of these new lifts costs upwards of $6,000. This new mandate is leaving many hotel owners 

with the decision to either pave over their pools, which may make 

their hotel less competitive, or spend tens of thousands of dollars 

to comply, funds which could have been better spent on hiring new 

employees or competing to host tourists and conventions. Furthermore, the traveling public is facing an avalanche of travel barriers 

due to ever-rising gas prices and the aggressive overreach of the 

TSA at our Nation’s airports. 

Last year the U.S. Travel Association asked air travelers if they 

were likely to take more trips next year by commercial airline after 

being made a way of the TSA’s new screening initiatives. Only 49 

percent said that they were very or somewhat likely to fly more. 

If we don’t want to become the world’s leading exporter of tourism, we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with steel-plated 

government policies that leave us less competitive and less secure. 

It is quite obvious that we need to scale back the Federal Government’s heavy-handed overreach that is negatively impacting tourism in all of our districts. We need to be looking at ways to 

incentivize tourism and travel, and certainly in Tennessee we want 

you to come see the Great Smoky Mountains, the Country Music 

Hall of Fame, Graceland, Shiloh battlefield. We want you to come 

to the Grand Ole Opry, and then go to downtown Franklin, Leipers 

Fork and be sure to spend plenty of money. 

So we welcome you, and I yield back. 

10 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I thank the gentlelady. 

And the chair recognizes Mr. Waxman for 5 minutes. 

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

Mr. WAXMAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, for holding 

this hearing. International tourism is a proven engine of economic 

growth in our country and a significant contributor to our national 

economic recovery. 

This shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but we have almost had no 

hearings in the last year and a half where the Republicans have 

not turned it into a partisan issue. The comment about the regulations for swimming pools was to comply with the Americans with 

Disabilities Acts. I think Steve Wynn should care a lot about that, 

because he is a man who is suffering from disabilities, and he 

would probably benefit because of his lack of sight to have such a 

lift in the swimming pools. I don’t think hotels are paving over 

their swimming pools because they have a regulation to protect the 

disabled. We even want disabled people to come to the United 

States, and we want to stay to hello to them, and welcome them 

here, and have them spend their money. It is just as good as anybody else’s. 

According to the Department of Commerce, tourism spending 

surged 8 percent last year to over a trillion dollars. It supported 

7.6 million jobs. This is one of our Nation’s top exports, one of the 

few export industries guaranteed to create jobs that won’t move offshore. 

Foreign visitors are putting Americans back to work and giving 

the world a window into our natural and cultural treasures. Luckily we have two people here from California that are going to advance our cause, because we are the gateway for tourism and hospitality in the Pacific area. 

The Chamber of Commerce estimates that every 1 percent increase in international visitors to Los Angeles infuses local business with a $43 million increase in direct spending and an estimated $88 million increase in economic impact. So the question is, 

How can we get more people to come? 

The President, we only have one at a time, this one, laid out a 

robust goal to attract 100 million international visitors annually 

within 10 years, a goal that I think both parties ought to support. 

The National Travel and Tourism Strategy unveiled last week is a 

blueprint to make it achievable with concerted coordination between government and industry. 

Some of the opportunities to attract more foreign visitors can be 

found in the Visa Waiver Program, which enables visitors from eligible countries to tour the United States for up to 90 days without 

a visa. After South Korea became eligible for this program in 2008, 

the number of Korean visitors to the United States increased 30 

percent, an estimate to indicate that the number could increase by 

another 55 percent by 2016. Other solutions will require target improvements to speed the resolution of visa backlogs in countries not 

eligible for the Visa Waiver Program. 

11 

Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about why tourists come 

to my district. In Beverly Hills we have Rodeo Drive; in Hollywood 

the Grauman Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 

the beaches of Santa Monica and all the way down the coast. We 

have lesser known, but wonderful tourism opportunities. One example is the Conejo Valley, where internationally renowned tourists—Tour de France teams have been training along the worldclass hiking/biking trails of Santa Monica Mountains National 

Recreation Centers. 

We have a lot of wonderful things to see, and there are times 

during the year when Palm Springs gets a little warm, so while 

they spend maybe a little less time in Palm Springs, they can come 

to the rest of California. But go to Palm Springs, as well, because 

we just have so much for people to see in the State of California. 

And I think that we ought to approach this on a bipartisan way 

to encourage tourism and support the efforts of the President, who 

is trying to do the same thing. 

I welcome our distinguished witness. She certainly has a place 

with a lot to offer for tourists. I wish I could find time to get back 

to Hawaii, but I spend all my time in California, so I am not deprived of wonderful tourist attractions. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I thank the gentleman from Beverly Hills, and 

I, again, welcome him any time to Palm Springs. 

But I do at this time turn our attention to our first panelists, and 

we welcome Representative Hirono of Hawaii to our committee, 

certainly somebody who understands this issue. And to reiterate to 

Mr. Waxman, all of us are very interested in bolstering tourism 

and doing what we can actually to help the President be successful 

in this goal. 

So welcome, Ms. Hirono. We are anxious to hear from you. We 

will recognize you for 5 minutes at this point. 

Just to remind Members, we do not plan on questioning our colleague, so after she gives us her statement, she will be free to go 

back to her busy day, and we will move on to the second panel. 

Ms. Hirono, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF HAWAII 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you very much, and aloha, everyone, chairman Bono Mack and Ranking Member Butterfield, and to all of the 

committee members. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Excuse me. Make sure your microphone is on 

and pulled towards you. 

Ms. HIRONO. Got it. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. You would think I know this, but I am 

usually on the other side. 

Mahalo and aloha to all of you for giving me this opportunity to 

participate. 

Creating good jobs is a national priority, and one of the strongest 

job-creating sectors in America is the visitor industry. The travel 

and tourism industry is critically important, of course, to the State 

of Hawaii, and I would say that travel and industry is probably the 

12 

number 1, 2, or 3 economic driver in just about every State in the 

country, including, of course, Chairwoman Bono Mack’s. And, in 

fact, doing a little bit of research in your State, practically 900,000 

people in California have jobs in this industry. 

Tourism in Hawaii is our biggest economic driver, accounting for 

17.4 percent of the jobs in Hawaii. It also accounts for almost 20 

percent of our economy. That is over 145,000 jobs, 12.6 billion in 

2011. 

Nationally tourism has been one of our Nation’s biggest exports 

for years. In 2011, it supported 7.6 million jobs and generated 3.5 

percent of or GDP. That is $1.2 trillion. The National Travel and 

Tourism Strategy released last week recognizes the industry’s importance to our Nation’s economy. It set a goal, as many of you 

have already articulated, 100 million international visitors by 2021. 

I applaud Secretaries Bryson and Salazar and all of the task force 

members for their work on this plan, and I commend President 

Obama for recognizing and prioritizing travel and tourism as a way 

to create jobs. The goals set by the President will take our serious 

effort. 

Last year the U.S. welcomed 62 million visitors from abroad. 

That was a record number. So increasing that number to 100 million in the next 9 years will be a challenge. It is a challenge that 

I know we can meet in a bipartisan way. 

In 2010, Congress passed the Travel Promotion Act, which created the Brand USA, which just recently launched its very first 

campaign to promote travel to our country. This year we passed 

legislation to improve our aviation systems and infrastructure. So 

we are making progress. 

I know that administration has worked to tackle visa processing 

backlogs in places like China. China is a key visitor market both 

for Hawaii and the United States, the rest of the U.S. Over 54 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2010. Do you know that fewer than 

1 million of them came to our country, and Hawaii welcomed some 

62,000? 

In September of 2011, Hawaii hosted the fifth annual China-U.S. 

tourism leadership seminar—summit. At the summit Mr. Qiwei 

Shao, who is China’s highest-ranking tourism official, said, quote, 

‘‘We hope the U.S. can bring more convenient visa procedures and 

we exchange views on this.’’ He went on to say, ‘‘The goal in 2015 

is for tourist flows between China and the U.S. to reach 5 million,’’ 

end quote. 

We are totally missing the boat in this growing China market, 

but we can do something about it and do it quickly. Congress can 

act to cut red tape and streamline the visa process for visitors from 

China and other growing markets. That is why I introduced the bipartisan VISIT USA Act with Representative David Dreier. Our 

bill with make commonsense changes to our visa processes. These 

changes would expedite visa processing to increase visitors while 

preserving U.S. security. I want to emphasize that, while preserving U.S. security. They are also focused on high-growth markets like Brazil and India in addition to China. 

Briefly, some of the bill’s key points are we would want to grant 

Chinese visitors 5-year rather than the current 1-year multipleentry visas. We are also conducting interviews by secure video conVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Aug 05, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\112-14~1\112-14~1 WAYNE
13 

ferencing rather than requiring the Chinese to travel the great distances to the five permanent consulates in that country. And we 

would want to establish mobile satellite consulates in cities of more 

than 1 million; increasing or decreasing fees based on seasonal demand in our country; allow for expedited visa reviewing. These 

commonsense reforms among others included in the bill will help 

to implement our tourism strategy. 

This bill has a bipartisan companion in the Senate and has been 

endorsed by a broad range of groups from UNITE HERE to the 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to Americans for Tax Reform. And you 

are going to hear from the U.S. Travel Association, who will be also 

testifying today. 

So boosting our travel and tourism industry will help our economy create jobs. I am glad to have bipartisan cosponsors for our 

bill, including Representatives Dreier, Berkley, Blumenauer, Farr, 

Hanabusa and Hultgren. I hope all of you will sign onto this bill 

and consider pushing us, moving us forward quickly so that we do 

not continue to miss the vote—miss the boat, I should say—we are 

not going miss the vote, that is coming up soon—to miss the boat 

on attracting tourists who want to come here particularly from 

China. 

Just to give you the sense of what kind of impact this would have 

on Hawaii, we get maybe 62,000 visitors from China. With the kind 

of changes I have been talking about in this bill, it has been estimated we can welcome 300,000 Chinese visitors to Hawaii. They 

will spend $600 million, creating potential for 6,000 jobs in Hawaii. 

So I look forward to working with all of you as we go forward 

in a bipartisan way. Mahalo, aloha. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hirono follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you very much for your testimony. We 

appreciate your being here, and we will certainly take a very close 

look at joining you on your bill. I appreciate that. 

Thank you again, and at this point, rather than asking questions, we will see you later on the floor for the vote. 

And we would like to call Secretary Lamb-Hale to be seated for 

the second panel, take a quick 30-second change. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Good morning. On our second panel we have 

the Honorable Nicole Lamb-Hale, Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration at the 

U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Good morning, Madam Secretary. Thank you for coming back to 

be with us again today. You will now be recognized for your 5 minutes. As you know, the lights will indicate when you need to begin 

wrapping up at the 1-minute mark. 

So please turn the microphone on, and bring it close to your 

mouth, and you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF NICOLE Y. LAMB–HALE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR MANUFACTURING AND SERVICES, INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Thank you. It is a pleasure to be back. Good 

morning, Chair Bono Mack, Ranking Member Butterfield, and the 

members of this subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to 

speak to you today on the National Travel and Tourism Strategy. 

The Obama administration and the Department of Commerce 

clearly recognize travel and tourism’s importance to the economy. 

This industry supports job creation, accounting for $1.2 trillion in 

economic activity, and supporting 7.6 million jobs in all States and 

territories. In 2011, 62 million international visitors came to the 

United States and spent $153 billion. These expenditures supported over 1 million jobs. 

The United States is highly competitive in the international travel and tourism marketplace. We lead the world in revenues derived 

from international travelers. However, the world travel market is 

changing rapidly. Competition has increased. From 2000 to 2010, 

the U.S. share of spending by international travelers fell from 17 

percent to 11 percent, a more than 30 percent decrease in our 

share of the global market. 

Like the United States, other traditional tourism destinations 

lost share during this same period, while Asian and other emerging 

destinations dramatically increased their market share. Many of 

our competitors recognize global travel and tourism growth as an 

opportunity for increased trade and job creation. 

Given this new competitive dynamic, the United States must 

harness the potential of travel and tourism to grow our economy. 

To ensure we reach this potential, President Obama issued an Executive Order earlier this year that established a Task Force on 

Travel and Competitiveness. The task force developed recommendations to promote domestic and international travel to and 

within our country with the goal of increasing the U.S. share of 

worldwide travel. 

18 

The task force, consisting of Federal agencies whose work impacts the sector, developed the United States National Travel and 

Tourism Strategy. Industry, congressional Members and other 

stakeholders provided substantial input. Secretary of Commerce 

John Bryson and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar cochaired 

the task force. They submitted the strategy to the President and 

released it to the industry and the public at a meeting of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus just last week. 

The goal is simple, yet bold: Increase American jobs by attracting 100 million international visitors, who we estimate will spend $250 

billion annually by the end of 2021. To accomplish this we will promote the United States as never before. This means communicating 

to the world that we welcome visitors, and providing information 

about the ease of travel to and within the United States. It means 

coordinating with the marketing campaign of Brand USA, the nonprofit private corporation established by the Travel Promotion Act 

of 2009. And it means partnering with industry as well as State, 

local, tribal and territorial governments to build campaigns around 

activities and iconic places, from the Sequoia National Forest to the 

San Antonio River Walk to the Outer Banks. 

While keeping our Nation’s security as the primary focus, the Departments of State and Homeland Security will streamline these 

applications and entry for legitimate travelers into the country. 

They will do this through improvements in process, technology, 

staffing and infrastructure. 

The U.S. Government will continue to make strategic investments in the transportation infrastructure to enable safer and 

more efficient movement between destinations throughout the 

country. This means supporting the program to upgrade our national Air Traffic Control System and working to promote improvements to our Nation’s highways. The administration will strive to 

provide world-class visitor experiences to inspire repeat visits. This 

strategy also proposes efforts to help small travel and tourism businesses, including expanding access to capital and helping small 

businesses gain the confidence to withstand demand volatility. 

The Tourism Policy Council, the Federal interagency council 

chaired by Secretary Bryson, will coordinate Federal policies and 

programs to implement the strategy. Building on our existing Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, we will create a national 

travel and tourism office at the Commerce Department to serve as 

a central driving force within the government, and to provide the 

day-to-day support needed to implement the national strategy. 

We will also work with the travel and tourism industry to collect 

and analyze data to support smart decision-making in the public 

and private sectors. We will also develop metrics to measure our 

progress and analyze results to improve performance. 

It is not just government agencies, of course, that promote increased travel and tourism. We are working closely with our private-sector partners as well. A key partner is Brand USA, which 

launched its U.S. Tourism promotion program last month. Commerce has committed to working with Brand USA to make its campaign successful. 

In closing, the implementation of the national strategy and our 

work with private-sector partners will be crucial in realizing travel 

19 

and tourism’s potential to create jobs over the next decade. I look 

forward to continuing to work with Congress to meet the goals set 

out for us in the Travel Promotion Act and to ensure that the 

unique public-private partnership it creates delivers on the full 

promise of this vital industry as a job-creation engine. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today, and I 

look forward to any questions you may have. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lamb-Hale follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. You can clearly see from our opening statements that the members of this subcommittee have great pride in 

their districts. Whether it is Palm Springs, or the beautiful North 

Carolina, or the fabulous Chicago, Beverly Hills, Tennessee, there 

is a lot of great pride, and we are all very, very proud of our districts. 

It is not too often we get to speak about our national parks in 

this committee, and I am happy to say that I represent part of 

Joshua Tree National Park, and I am very honored to do that. 

So one of questions that I have is how do the offices within Commerce market U.S. destinations? And do you pick specific attractions or regions? Are there winners and losers? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. There are certainly not winners and losers, 

Madam Chair. We are working very hard, under the strategy and 

under the auspices of the Tourism Policy Council, to ensure that 

the spirit of the Travel Promotion Act, which focuses on lifting all 

the boats, all of our States, opportunities in travel and tourism. So 

we do use data and research to figure out the best places to promote the United States. We are working very closely with Brand 

USA and their strategy to do so, and we are making sure that we 

market and promote world destinations as well as our urban centers. The idea is to promote the entire United States and to not 

choose one State over another. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

You have said that we need to partner with State and local governments to build these campaigns around activities and iconic 

places. Who will choose in which projects to invest what criteria 

should be used? For example, half of my district was asking me a 

question the other day when I was out there about how do we promote tourism, but they have no infrastructure yet in place at all. 

Are they going to be disadvantaged compared to the other half of 

my district, which is very focused and has a great infrastructure 

in place currently to promote tourism? How will you be picking and 

choosing there? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, we won’t be picking and choosing. What 

we will be doing is working very hard with all the States that are 

interested in helping to develop strategies to promote their particular destinations. We will be working very closely with Brand 

USA in the effort to ensure that we are targeting the right foreign 

markets to bring visitors, international visitors, into the country 

and to really build upon the fact that we have great urban centers, 

but, of course, within a range, a very short range, of distance there 

are rural destinations that are very important and that can be 

meaningful for the memories that you talked about. 

And so I think that as we work together through the interagency 

process, and with our State and local partners, and the private sector, we will be able to lift all the boats. There won’t be a picking 

of winners and losers as it relates to our States. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

You also testified that the administration will focus on fostering 

a skilled hospitality industry. Can you describe the administration’s vision on this point, and where is the industry currently deficient? 

28 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, I wouldn’t say that the industry is deficient. I think that there are opportunities for to us work together 

with the private sector to do the kinds of things that will create 

a world-class customer service and business experience for the 

country. So that includes helping to train small businesses, which 

comprise the largest percentage of our travel and tourism businesses in the U.S., on strategies and tactics to help to improve the 

visitor experience. 

I think has we partner with our private sector partners and with 

our Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, for instance, we can put 

together training programs to help small businesses to be successful and welcoming our visitors. We can certainly focus, and I know 

that DHS has done this, on making sure that the people on the 

front line at our ports of entry are trained to be, as Congressman 

Butterfield said, to say thank you, and you are welcome, and be 

welcoming to travelers. 

So I think that, again, as we pull together in the interagency and 

we work with our private partners, we can ensure that the customer experience and the visitor experience within the U.S. is the 

best that it can be so that we can be competitive. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

And is the Commerce Department concerned solely with the total 

number of international visitors, or does it also have goals for 

boosting tourism at the State level, within the—you know, yes. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. We are working very closely with the Department of Interior. We are focused on encouraging our U.S. citizens 

to explore all that the U.S. has to offer. At the Commerce Department, in particular at the International Trade Administration, we 

are very focused on international visitation and working with 

Brand USA in that regard. But as part of the Tourism Policy Council, which includes the Departments of Interior and other departments that touch this industry, we are really looking at ensuring 

that when U.S. citizens travel, that they consider staying home and 

looking at all that the U.S. has to offer. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you very much. I yield back my final 

10 seconds and recognize Mr. Butterfield for 5 minutes for questioning. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Let me thank the chairman. 

The data shows that five U.S. States, I believe it is, New York, 

Florida, California, Nevada and Hawaii, all together account for 

some 93 percent of all overseas visitor arrivals, and that is good. 

But I am concerned that the remaining States, the territories and 

the District of Columbia combined receive such a very small portion of the total. Clearly the authors of the Travel Promotion Act 

felt the same way, as the statute explicitly directs Corporation for 

Travel Promotion to, quote, ‘‘ensure that international travel benefits all States and the District of Columbia, and to identify opportunities and strategies to promote tourism to rural and urban areas 

equally, including the areas not traditionally visited by international travelers,’’ end of quote. 

One of your main jobs as the primary department overseeing this 

act is to carry out that duty. How do we help those States that do 

not attract large numbers of international visitors? Do you believe 

a unified national marketing strategy like Brand USA, and you 

29 

made reference to that, would give a particular boost to these 

States, and if so, why? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Thank you for your question. 

The Travel Promotion Act, as you did state, does ensure that as 

we look at promoting the United States. That we not just promote 

the urban areas, but we also look at promoting rural America. We 

are working very closely with Brand USA and with our private-sector partners to ensure that that happens. We are really—if you 

look at our strategy, we are very focused within existing resources 

on how we can make sure that as we promote the United States, 

these other opportunities to explore rural America and some of our 

smaller States are taken into account. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. But is it true that 93 percent of international 

travelers go to five States? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. You know, I don’t have that information. I can 

check on that and get back to you. But I would say that as we implement the Travel Promotion Act, and as we implement the strategy working with our private-sector partners, we are very cognizant of the beautiful and iconic destinations that exist around 

our country. And so our goal is not just to promote, you know, our 

urban centers, but to look at other opportunities to ensure that 

when visitors come, they can take into account and take into consideration all of the opportunities that the U.S. provides for travel 

and tourism. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Are regional partnerships more important to 

these States that are relatively off the beaten path to international 

visitors? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. I think that regional partnerships are very important, and we are working—if you look at our strategy, we are 

working at making sure that we include rural America in those discussions and in that approach. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. All right. They didn’t cut on my clock, so I am 

not going to abuse my time. That is all right, that is all right. I 

am going to ask one last question, and then I will be done. 

In the year 2000, the U.S. share of international arrivals was 7.5 

percent of the world’s total. By 2011, the U.S. share was down to 

6.6. Trade groups, executive departments and congressional committees have cited this decline as a motivating factor for a renewed 

Federal emphasis on international travel promotion. 

Ms. Lamb-Hale, one out of OTTI’s main jobs—one of the main 

jobs is to provide statistical support on travel and tourism to the 

Department and to the various industries that make up travel and 

tourism. As we seek to achieve the National Travel and Tourism 

Strategy’s goal of 100 million and $250 billion in international 

travel spending by 2021? How do you intend to measure this 

progress? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, we are certainly working very closely with 

the private sector to do that. We understand the importance of 

data and research to the travel and tourism industry, and we are 

looking for creative ways through public-private partnerships to 

close any data gaps that there are so that we can make sure that 

we use public and private resources appropriately in the promotion 

of the U.S. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you. I yield back. 

30 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Mr. Butterfield. 

The chair recognizes Mr. Olson for 5 minutes. 

Mr. OLSON. I thank the chair. 

And thank you, Secretary Lamb-Hale, for coming today. I greatly 

appreciate your time and not waste an opportunity to talk about 

the Lone Star State. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. There you go. 

Mr. OLSON. We have a great slogan in Texas about our tourism: 

Texas, it is like a whole other country. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Ah. 

Mr. OLSON. That comes from our Governor’s office. We have got 

things to be proud of. We have got great diversity. We have got the 

Piney Woods of east Texas, lots of hiking and lots of fishing up 

there. We have got the central Texas prairies, the lakes, the water 

sports that we talked about, get it all out there and doing some 

tubing down the rivers. We have got the hill country, more tubing 

down there; the River Walk in San Antonio, which I think you 

mentioned in your testimony; the Big Bend areas. It has got mountains, mountains in Texas. We have got one that is 8,751 feet, 

Mount Guadeloupe. We have got the Marfa lights out there, which 

some people think they are UFOs, other people don’t think they are 

UFOs, but go and see for yourself. We have got the Panhandle 

Plains, ‘‘limo skies,’’ and the best steaks, like premium steakhouse 

there in Buffalo Gap, Texas. And finally, we have got, where I live, 

the Gulf Coast of Texas, which stretches from the border with Mexico to the border of Louisiana, beautiful beaches, lots of great fishing, and home of the Johnson Space Center. 

And so we have half the southern border with Mexico, and what 

I am concerned about is Latin America is the fastest-growing market for our economy, at least in Texas. We have got robust cruise 

ship operation out of Galveston, Texas. In fact, I went on that 

cruise with my family Christmas before last, and we went down to 

Central America, the Caribbean and northern part of South America. Now, I can assure you that the people on that cruise—there 

were a lot—we have the blue passports, our passports, but many, 

many people on that cruise ship had different color passports, so 

they were on actual business coming to Galveston, Texas, to get on 

a cruise ship to go down to Latin America. 

And we got three major international airports. San Antonio airport, my colleague Mr. Gonzalez, that is his home airport; DallasFort Worth; and we have got Bush Intercontinental, where I live; 

and maybe a fourth one. We have got a little debate going on right 

now in Houston about Hobby airport getting some international 

travel access down to Mexico, and the northern part of Central 

America, and northern part of South America. 

And so what I am concerned about is obviously we just have a 

tremendous opportunity in Texas to grow. I mean, it is just numbers for you. For example, the GDP of the Texas travel industry 

was $23.4 billion in 2010. That is only lower than the oil and gas 

segment and on par with agriculture. That is high cotton in Texas. 

You are competing with the oil and gas industry and the agriculture industry, the cattle ranch industry. You have got something 

going on there, 23.4 billion. 

31 

What I am concerned about is that from 2000 to 2010, U.S. 

Share of spending by international travelers fell from 17 percent to 

11 percent, more than 30 percent decrease in our share of the global market. The good news is we have, you know, record $153 billion 

of U.S. Travel and international tourism, but I am concerned about 

the decline there. 

In your testimony you say that the decreased share of international travelers was a result of more competition. And I am concerned about 9/11 and how that has changed things, not just for 

the airline industry. We tend to focus on that. But also, as I mentioned, we have got people coming across, their cars, from Mexico 

into my home State that want to be tourists there, that they are 

having to go through changes down there on the border. We have 

got the cruise ships. They have to go through different procedures 

to get aboard the ship. That is all good. But I am just concerned, 

was industry seeing a decrease before the 9/11 terrorist attacks? I 

mean, like, what were the numbers between 2000 and 2001? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. You know, I would have to get back to you on 

that. I don’t have those numbers handy. But I can tell you that 

what—I can give you some sense of the competition and why it is 

that as a result of that we have implemented and are implementing the strategy. 

After 9/11, of course, because of security concerns, rightly so, we 

had to do some things to make sure that our public, the American 

public, was secure. And we are now doing that and promoting the 

United States. 

I think that the competition and increased competition is that 

there are other areas of the world to see. There is a growing middle 

class and emerging economies, and they have a lot of choices that 

they can make. So I think that the fact that we are coming together as a government and for the first time really actively promoting the U.S., I think that we will gain the competitive edge that 

we all want to create jobs. 

Mr. OLSON. Yes, we need to do that, because I applaud the idea 

of welcoming 100 million visitors, international visitors, to our 

State. That is very important. But right now our States have one 

hand tied behind their back, because they are competing against 

other countries. I mean, my home State of Texas, we have this advertisement program. I know we go to other States. I have seen— 

back home I see my colleagues from Michigan here, you guys are 

doing a good job. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. I am from Michigan, too—— 

Mr. OLSON. There you go. I see those guys on my TV come to 

Michigan, beautiful city, but we need help. I mean, how many jobs 

do you think would be impacted if we get this 100 million international tourists coming in? How many jobs we have right here in 

the United States, any idea? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, I can tell you what the statistics were for 

2011, and we can do some math, get a calculator out and maybe 

extrapolate from that. But I can tell you that there were 1.1 million 

total jobs supported by international travelers in 2011. So if we can 

do the math—I went to law school for a reason. So I don’t know 

that I can do it in my head right now, but there is a formula. I 

mean, we have a formula. That is how we derived the goal. There 

32 

is a direct correlation between job creation and the exports that we 

receive through travel and tourism by international visitors. 

So I think that if we look at what happened in 2011, if the Federal Government comes together with the private sector, and we 

really make the push that the strategy suggests, I think that we 

are going to see an enormous impact on job creation. 

Mr. OLSON. Thank you. And I am way over my time. Just again, 

Texas, it is like a whole other country. 

I yield back. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I hesitate to recognize the next Texan for a 

Texas filibuster, but the gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5 

minutes. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. It is just 

that we have so much to brag about, and rightfully so. 

But quickly, thank you very much, Madam Secretary. 

Let me ask you. I want to turn to the international visitor for 

a lot of reasons. You told me that you want to promote, obviously, 

what is going on domestically, and I understand that. And with the 

recession we probably have more people in the United States staying within the United States and visiting San Antonio and other 

spots as opposed to those particularly five States that the ranking 

member had pointed out. Those figures come from the census—that 

is what I was checking a minute ago with my staff—and in essence 

basically stated there were, I think, five States. According to the 

U.S. Department of Commerce, five States, New York, Florida, 

California, Nevada and Hawaii, received 93.8 percent of visitors. 

That excludes visitors from Canada and Mexico. 

There are many, many variables that come into play as to whether they are going to go to any of the other vacation spots. Something that my colleague from Texas pointed out is it is going to be 

the availability of just air transportation, major airports. And if 

you are going try to get people going from New York or whatever 

to other locales maybe once they get here or whatever, you still 

need all sorts of direct routes to some of those cities like San Antonio. And I am sure some of my colleagues know exactly what I am 

talking about. 

And where I am going with this is that my understanding is that 

the administration, one of its goals is to coordinate the efforts 

across agencies and departments to accommodate all of those considerations so that we are working at truly what would be the optimum. 

You have already heard that we have security concerns. We 

have, of course, just the accommodation of air routes and such, all 

of that. What are we doing in order to get all the agencies and departments on the same page to accommodate and encourage international visitors? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, what we are doing is, first of all, developing the strategy. We developed the strategy that was an interagency process. It was a task force led by the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior. And all of these agencies that have equity in 

this space have pulled together to put together this strategy, and 

they are beginning to implement that strategy. And that is something that we really haven’t done as well before. 

33 

I mean, we do have the Tourism Policy Council that has been in 

place. We are rejuvenating that. We are making sure that seniorlevel officials participate very actively to ensure that there is coordination on the Federal level. Through the creation of National 

Travel and Tourism Office at the Commerce Department that I 

spoke about, that will really create a central focus and really ensure that the coordination of the strategy, the implementation of 

the strategy takes place. 

And, you know, I wanted to mention, too, the issue of the five 

States. You know, we have not promoted the United States like we 

are planning to do, like we are doing now with Brand USA. The 

people who are going to those States are going to those States without the additional push from Brand USA and from the coordination 

of the Federal agencies to really market the United States as a 

whole. And I think as we do that, all States will be able to benefit 

from international visitors coming because we are going to go tell 

the story. 

We haven’t told the story effectively. Brand USA’s marketing 

campaign is fabulous, and it really focuses on all that the country 

has to offer. I think that particularly working together with the Department of Interior, you will really see a boost in our promotion 

activities that will ensure that we have the increased international 

visitors that we all want to create jobs. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And I think that is part of the formula. 

The other thing is I am just asking you to take very seriously 

that one provision there and goal of coordinating between departments and agencies. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Yes. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. There are some things you would be able to do 

that are beyond your control, the strength of the American dollar 

compared to another currency and such, making the United States 

an attractive place to come; security and such. But there is still a 

lot to be done. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Yes. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. I have about a minute left, and quickly I want 

to make a distinction. When I read this, I thought it was just absolutely amazing. I don’t know if you are making distinction—and we 

have people from the tourism industry—the distinction between 

someone who comes to truly visit, or someone that comes here, and, 

of course, they are going to eat at our restaurants, stay in our hotels, but they are here to purchase things. That, to me, is a really 

high-value tourist. 

So I am going to read you something from the Orange County 

Register of March 12, 2012: In fact, Brazilians are spending so 

much that flights with Brazil’s top airline, TAM, originating in the 

United States have had to carry more fuel to accommodate the dramatically overweight baggage. New York. And I am sure we can 

talk about Miami and other places. 

Is there any distinction in making that kind of tourist—I call 

them really a customer of the United States, truly export in many 

ways—are you making any distinction to accommodate that kind of 

commerce with visitors to the United States? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, I think that there is no surprise that 

Brazil is among the top destinations that we are marketing to for 

34 

the United States because of fact that statistics show that they do 

spend quite a bit of money. It is interesting as we look at the export opportunity, it is not—you know, it is paying for the plane 

ticket, and it is coming in and buying, you know, soda and clothing, 

et cetera. 

And so I think as we approach this strategically, and we use resources both public and private in the most efficient way possible, 

we will be looking at areas that make the most sense to market 

to initially. 

I know that Brand USA, and I am sure Jim Evans will tell you 

this, has a plan, a strategy, a rollout. And what you will see is that 

countries where we have visitors who are those high-value visitors 

that you described are going to be at the top of the list. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

I yield back. Thank you for your indulgence. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank the gentleman. 

The chair recognizes Mr. Pompeo for 5 minutes. 

Mr. POMPEO. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 

Unlike the other Members today, I am not going to shamelessly 

promote Kansas. I don’t need to. If you have ever seen a Kansas 

sunset, if you have ever had a chance to go hunt and fish in western Kansas, or you have had a chance to visit Kansas City and the 

wonderful amenities there, you don’t need a Member of Congress 

to sell you on it. 

You may not need Federal trade promotion either. And that is 

really—I want to follow up on what Mr. Gonzalez said. Tell me 

about the metrics. There are so many dynamics, fuel price, the dollar value. You talked about developing metrics. What are the 

metrics against what you will measure the resources that are being 

expended on this project? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, certainly we are—those are in development. We are working very hard to ensure that our research and 

our data support what we are doing, the monies that are being 

spent. I know that Brand USA has been working very closely with 

us to ensure that we can measure our success. 

We are very focused on public-private partnerships to help us to 

develop the metrics and to be able to measure our success, and so 

that is something that under the strategy we are developing, it is 

under way. You know, there are traditional metrics in terms of, as 

Mr. Gonzalez mentioned, you know, spending patterns and, you 

know, can you make a direct correlation between an advertising 

campaign in Japan and how much is spent by Japanese visitors in 

the U.S. 

Those are things we have to work through. I don’t think that we 

have the formula down pat now, but it is a critical part of the strategy to conduct research and measure our results. And so that is 

something that the Tourism Policy Council will be working very 

closely on with our Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and with 

Brand USA to make sure that we can report to you successes in 

this regard. 

Mr. POMPEO. Great. I appreciate that. I think it is difficult. That 

is why I ask. I think it is hard to segregate out what is really driving it. I appreciate, too, that we have got lots of private money 

going to these folks who have an enormous self-interest in making 

35 

it successful for their businesses and for their employees for job 

creation in America. I appreciate the way that this program has 

been developed. 

Really, one last comment, and then I will yield back my time. I 

listen to the groups of different folks who are involved in this, and 

whenever I hear ‘‘interagency working group,’’ I become frightened, 

because I often think that often means duplicative programs, confusion, incoherent policy objectives, overlap and waste. So I would 

just—we will keep following on this committee. I would urge you 

to do everything you can to make sure that we are not committing 

the same problems here—or having the same problems here that 

we have in so many other places in Federal Government today. 

Thank you very much for coming and joining us this morning. 

I yield back. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I thank the gentleman. 

And the chair recognizes Mr. Harper for 5 minutes. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you for being here with us today, and we 

certainly hope that you will come visit us in Mississippi, where the 

food is always better. We can fry anything, just so you know. It is 

a great place. 

But we have many wonderful places to visit. We have the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway that runs from Nashville, Tennessee, 

down to Natchez, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River. Lots of 

great history there. We also have the Dixie National Rodeo that is 

the largest rodeo east of the Mississippi River. And surprising to 

some is the International Ballet Competition is only held in one 

place in the United States, and that is in Jackson, Mississippi, 

every 4 years, a 2-week Olympic-style event that is peopled with 

visitors from all over the world. And so we hope you will take a 

chance to come visit us sometime. And there are great things there. 

The Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians, their ad campaign is 

‘‘Vegas with Sweet Tea.’’ So many wonderful things there. 

And we appreciate what you do. And we know this, that tourism 

is important to every State. And it is affected in great ways, particularly on group travel, by gas prices at the pump. The high 

prices definitely have a big impact on planning those trips, from 

bus tours to other groups that come in. So we certainly hope that 

the administration will perhaps reconsider its position on Keystone 

XL pipeline and look at ways that we can affect that price at the 

pump directly, realizing that when gas was $1.84 a gallon average, 

it is a lot easier to get folks on board and to make trips. So that 

is a big impact. 

But what I want to do is ask you a couple of questions, and understand how did the administration set goals for the strategy that 

you have discussed? And is the primary goal to increase the number of international visitors to 100 million by 2012? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. It is by 2021. 

Mr. HARPER. I am sorry, 2021. If I could read, I could figure that 

out. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. OK. 

Mr. HARPER. You know, 100 million is a nice goal, but how was 

that figure arrived at? That is a very ambitious goal, a good goal. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. It is ambitious, and we really want a stretch 

goal. We don’t want to set forth a goal that, you know, is too easy 

36 

to reach, because we want to work together and really push to ensure that the job creation that we believe can occur as a result of 

this industry is as robust as possible. 

The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries in the Department 

of Commerce does an annual forecast of international travel, and 

that forecast shows that there is an increase of 4.2 percent per year 

through 2016 just based upon factors that we look at in deriving 

that number. We believe that if we pull together the way that we 

plan to do under this strategy, and with the help of the private sector, we can push that to 5 percent per year. So once you get that 

number, we get to 100 million visitors, the math on the amount of 

money that is spent is just based upon historic spending patterns 

per visitor. 

Mr. HARPER. Got you. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. So even me as a lawyer can figure out how to 

do the math on that one. 

Mr. HARPER. Lawyers are people, too. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. We are people, too, we are. But certainly that 

was the baseline. It was based upon the survey that we do. And 

what we did was we really tried to push it so that—based upon all 

the efforts that we are making. 

Mr. HARPER. How do you plan to coordinate your activities with 

Brand USA to make sure there is no duplication or that you are 

working together? And what do you see as the key contribution of 

the Department? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. OK. Well, we will not duplicate the efforts of 

Brand USA. Brand USA is a private-sector entity. They will be putting together their plans and working very closely with their private-sector partners to ensure that all of the expertise that is available in industry can be brought to bear to promote the United 

States. 

The government will be focused on uniquely governmental items, 

creating the environment for travel and tourism businesses to 

thrive; ensuring that our borders, while protecting them, are welcoming to visitors; ensuring that the playing field is leveled in 

international fora as it relates to, you know, ensuring that any restrictions on trade and travel and tourism are eliminated. Only 

uniquely governmental functions will the U.S. Government focus 

on. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you for your time today. 

I yield back. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Mr. Harper. 

Mr. Guthrie, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. GUTHRIE. Thank you. And I will promote Kentucky as we 

move forward. We had a pretty famous event just a few—well, I 

guess a couple Saturdays ago. 

First of all, on the visa you got into, a couple of things. I want 

to know Brazil has a reciprocal agreement, so whenever a Brazilian 

citizen is required to come here, it also requires to go there. And 

I had some friends get caught up in that. They had to fly to Washington, DC, to go through the Brazilian Embassy so they could get 

their visa to go to Brazil. And I am thinking if we got Brazilians 

living outside of Rio and Sao Paolo and Brasilia, it is a big country, 

if they wanted to come here to go to Disney World, they are going 

37 

to have to fly to one of those. What an inconvenience it is, to kind 

of put it into perspective. 

And I want to say this, is that how is that going? Because I know 

that it has to be—we have to protect ourselves from people coming 

in, one, that want to do us harm, but, one, that want to come in 

illegally and stay. And I give an example. 

I have a young lady, or a friend, or actually almost like a sister 

who came to study at Western Kentucky University from Mexico 

as a graduate student and live with my parents. And so she goes 

home, marries, has kids, and wants to bring them to Disney World. 

And her husband—I have been to their business. As a matter of 

fact her biggest complaint—I know it is on TV; she will probably 

hear it—is that he will never leave his business unless they go on 

vacation, because he is always there working. And I have been 

there and seen it, and that is his—second to her, his love. And they 

couldn’t get a visa to come in and for some reason in that into Mexico City. And they have to go through a lot of cases. So it is not 

a complaint to them. But it just seemed to me to be a clear case 

of somebody who will come to the United States, take vacation, and 

go back, and it just seemed very difficult to get that visa. As a matter of fact, they went to Spain instead because they couldn’t come 

here. And so it is the kind of business they could afford to go to 

Spain. That is the thing. 

And so where is that in the process? We have to protect ourselves, but we also—you will hear it from Disney folks in town here 

that it is difficult to get people to travel back and forth. 

And then also when you show up—I am so glad when I land here 

I have got the U.S. citizen line at the airport, because not only do 

you get a visa—I haven’t flown internationally in a while, but last 

time I came in, it appeared to be hours of waits to get in, whereas 

we had the U.S. citizen line or permanent resident line to go 

through. 

So those things about just the difficulty of getting a visa to come 

here, and the difficulty of getting here once you get here. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, I certainly need to defer to my colleagues 

at the Department of State and Homeland Security on these topics, 

but I can tell you that the State Department is working very hard 

to streamline visa processing. They understand the issues around 

travel to our consulates around the world and how that may create 

some inconveniences. They are working hard to reduce wait times 

for qualified visitors. 

So they are aware of the issue, and they have made a lot of 

progress, and I am sure they would love to share that with you. 

We can get you some information on that. 

With respect to DHS, they recognize that we need to do better 

at our ports of entry. They have the model ports program that they 

have been working, and they have developed, through that program, best practices that they are implementing across the country, while still maintaining our security. I think there is a lot that 

they are doing to improve the infrastructure and the operations at 

our border crossings, and I think that you will begin to see a difference there. 

38 

We have got a lot to do, and we have to protect our national security. That is a very important part of what they do. But they do 

recognize that there are some improvements that can be made. 

Mr. GUTHRIE. I absolutely think there should be no sacrifice to 

immigration policy or national security to streamline the process. 

But I can see if you come here once, and you go out, it is just easier 

to go somewhere else. And that is what I have heard. And with just 

a couple experiences. Of course, they are anecdotal, but they are 

experiences. 

One thing. There was a guy I met through a connection here 

from South Africa that came to Kentucky a couple weeks ago. And 

he said, boy, I never would have come here. He did the Bourbon 

Trail. We have calcium in our ground, so the grass is a natural 

supplement for strong bones, so our horses are stronger and better. 

Also, it is a pure filter for water running through limestone. This 

is limestone, so it filters, and iron falls out, so if you put it and 

heat it up and put corn in it, it does well. And the other thing is 

it also creates caves, because the limestone washes out. So in my 

district is Mammoth Cave. So he got to do those experiences. He 

says, wow, I never would have gotten out of DC, New York, California had I not had an opportunity to come here and made that 

connection that we had. 

I mean, what kind of strategy—I know that—I mean, quite 

frankly, there are a lot of places I haven’t visited because I have 

gone to New York, Washington, California the same way, and I 

wanted to go to other places. What kind of things are you working 

on to get them out of the big—they are great cities, I love them, 

but how do we get them in the heartland? 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Well, I think that really with the help of Brand 

USA, we will be marketing the entire United States. I think that 

people are going to those cities that you mentioned because they 

have heard of them, right? We haven’t really, until now, through 

the strategy and with the partnership of Brand USA, really marketed the country. And I think as we do that, and we focus both 

on rural and urban areas, we will begin to see a difference there. 

I think that we really, through the efforts, the combined efforts, of 

our public-private partnership, we will be able to expose international visitors to all that the country has to offer. 

Mr. GUTHRIE. One of the world’s great travelers, Queen Elizabeth II, loves coming to Kentucky. So that is my last promotion of 

our great Commonwealth. Thank you. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. I thank the gentleman. 

And I want to thank you again, Secretary Lamb-Hale, for joining 

us today for this important discussion on promoting tourism in 

America. It is always great to see you and to have you before our 

committee. I really look forward to working with you to make this 

a huge success for all of us. So thank you very much for your time, 

and I hope to see you again soon. 

Ms. LAMB-HALE. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. At this point we will take a 30-second recess 

as we seat our third panel. If those third panelists could please 

come to the table. 

All right. We are ready to resume today’s hearing with our third 

panel. Again, each of our witnesses has prepared an opening stateVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Aug 05, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\112-14~1\112-14~1 WAYNE
39 

ment, and that full statement will be placed into the record. You 

will each be given 5 minutes to summarize the statement in your 

remarks. 

Joining us on our panel are James Evans, chief executive officer 

of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, also known as Brand 

USA. Welcome. 

We have Geoff Freeman, chief operating officer and executive 

vice president of the U.S. Travel Association. 

We have Debbie Marriott Harrison, senior vice president for government affairs at Marriott International. Welcome. 

Scott White. A special welcome to one of my constituents. He is 

president and chief executive officer for the Greater Palm Springs 

Convention and Visitors Bureau. Welcome. 

And Patrick T. Long, Dr. Patrick T. Long, director for the Center 

for Sustainable Tourism, Division of Research and Graduate Studies at East Carolina University. 

Welcome to each of you. You will be given the 5 minutes. To help 

you keep track of time, please try to keep an eye on the light. 

When the yellow light illuminates, you have 1 minute to begin 

wrapping up your remarks. 

Please make sure you bring the microphone close to your mouth 

and turn it on. It is not just for us, but it is for the stenographer 

and anybody else who might be listening or watching. 

So with this, we are going to begin. Mr. Evans, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENTS OF JAMES P. EVANS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CORPORATION FOR TRAVEL PROMOTION, A.K.A. 

BRAND USA; GEOFF FREEMAN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 

AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION; DEBORAH MARRIOTT HARRISON, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, 

INC.; SCOTT WHITE, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GREATER PALM SPRINGS CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU; AND PATRICK T. LONG, DIRECTOR, CENTER 

FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM, DIVISION OF RESEARCH AND 

GRADUATE STUDIES, EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY 

STATEMENT OF JAMES P. EVANS 

Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Madam Chairman, Ranking Member 

Butterfield, and members of the committee, for inviting me here 

today to discuss the ways in which Brand USA will help create jobs 

by increasing the number of overseas visitors to the United States. 

Brand USA was established by the Travel Promotion Act in 2010 

to spearhead the Nation’s first global marketing effort to promote 

America as a premier travel destination and communicate U.S. 

entry and exit policies. Brand USA does not require a single penny 

of taxpayer money to operate. Rather, the organization is funded 

through a combination of private-sector contributions and fees paid 

by international travelers from 36 visa waiver countries. 

Congress created this private-public partnership knowing that 

the U.S. had fallen behind in global competition for overseas travelers. During the last decade the United States’ share of overseas 

arrivals stayed flat even as the global travel market grew by more 

40 

than 60 million people annually. And what did this mean to our 

economy? According to the U.S. Travel Association, had the U.S. 

kept pace with travel growth, we would have welcomed 78 million 

more visitors and generated $606 billion in spending. That is 

enough to support more than 467,000 jobs, American jobs, annually. 

These overseas travelers are the most lucrative for the U.S. economy. On average they spend $4,300 when they visit the United 

States, and that doesn’t include business deals done when travelers 

come to the United States to buy manufactured goods. And every 

33 overseas travelers support 1 U.S. job. 

The challenge to recapturing our share is even greater as the 

global travel market has become increasingly competitive over the 

years. Until now the United States was the only industrialized 

country that did not actively market itself to promote international 

visitation. A 2011 McKinsey Global Institute report estimates that 

the tourism sector could add 2.1- to 3.3 million jobs this decade. In 

order to reach that higher number, however, the report says that 

we need to increase the number of overseas visitors to our shores. 

Brand USA is committed to doing its part to reach the goal by 

developing a global marketing campaign on behalf of the United 

States, with a strategy designed to promote all facets of our great 

Nation. This month we launched our campaign in three markets, 

in the United Kingdom, in Canada, and Japan. Our decision to target these markets first was based entirely on where we believed, 

through research, our advertising campaign will achieve the greatest possible return on investment. 

The campaign reflects insights gained from surveying potential 

visitors to the United States, and what we found wasn’t all that 

surprising, but was sometimes difficult to hear. Some felt we 

haven’t been a very welcoming Nation in the past recent years. 

Others felt that there were newer, more exotic markets they were 

interested in visiting. And others felt they had seen all they needed 

to see of the United States. 

This research fed into our campaign message, inviting travelers 

worldwide to discover this land like never before. We are using television, digital advertising, signage, print ads, and a robust social 

media strategy to reach our potential visitors. And our Web site, 

DiscoverAmerica.com, features destinations large and small, iconic 

and less known, from all regions, both urban and rural. 

We are also working with the Departments of State, Homeland 

Security, Commerce, and Interior to better communicate our Nation’s evolving security rules, to address misperceptions, and create 

a more welcoming environment to visitors. 

Once the program is fully activated, we will have a better idea 

of what to expect from a return-on-investment perspective, but our 

goal in this inaugural year is to have a 3-to-1 return on our marketing spend, and eventually, in 3 to 4 years, to achieve a 20-to1 spend. 

I thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning to testify. 

We greatly appreciate the support of this committee as well as 

other Federal partners in the executive branch. We look forward to 

working with you to ensure that our success leads to the creation 

41 

of much-needed American jobs. I thank you for your time. I look 

forward to answering any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Evans follows:] 

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Mr. EVANS. And, Madam Chair, I have a 2-minute video at some 

point in time if you would like to take a peek at it. If you have 

time. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Go ahead. We are prepared when you are. 

Mr. EVANS. Wonderful. 

[Video shown.] 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. Is that on your Web site? 

Mr. EVANS. It is on our Web site. That again, just a reminder, 

is not an ad. Obviously, it is too long. But it is a promotional piece 

we use. But all the content in every ad we have comes from that 

video. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Well, I thank you. It is well done. And I think 

we all will be singing ‘‘Land of Dreams’’ all day long. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Was that a 1959 Cadillac I saw in that? 

Mr. EVANS. It was a Cadillac, yes. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. 1959? 

Mr. EVANS. Yes. It is not mine, I promise. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. All right. And Mr. Freeman, a tough act to follow, but you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF GEOFF FREEMAN 

Mr. FREEMAN. You can’t watch that video and not get excited 

about the new face that America is putting out there and the invitation that we are sending to travelers around the world. 

Thank you so much for hosting today’s hearing. We greatly appreciate that as you talk about your various destinations, and all 

the opportunities that are there, your unique understanding that 

it is not just fun, it is also big business. It is an opportunity to 

drive your local economies. And that is why the travel industry 

wishes to partner with you to help create good American jobs, the 

good American jobs that we are all seeking right now to turn this 

economy around. 

The travel industry supported 14 million American jobs last year, 

but as Jim said, McKinsey estimates this industry could add an additional 3 million jobs over the next decade. To do that we have to 

work together to remove barriers to travel, and we are excited to 

work with you to do that on both the international front as well 

as the domestic front. And if you don’t mind, I would like to walk 

through both of those sides and suggest some of the things that we 

need to address in order to welcome more travelers to our shores 

and encourage people to travel within the country. 

On the international front, travel is our number one export, generating $153 billion last year alone in spending. This is an element 

of our industry that we absolutely must promote. To do that we obviously need a secure and efficient visa system, our entry process 

must be welcoming, and our promotion must correct a global 

misperception that America is not as welcome as it might have 

been before. We see this as three links in the travel chain, all of 

which must work together, none of which being more important 

than the other. 

Let us begin with the visa process. Visa wait times for some time 

over the past decade have been a great barrier to travel to the 

United States, often exceeding, in some destinations around the 

world, more than 100 days just to receive an interview. We conVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Aug 05, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\112-14~1\112-14~1 WAYNE
50 

gratulate the State Department on making great strides in recent 

months in reducing those wait times in Brazil, in China, and elsewhere around the world. 

The question and the challenge for all of us right now is how we 

make sure that these changes, these improvements can be sustained over time. We have several recommendations that we look 

forward to working with you to ensure that we can maintain these 

visa successes. 

Number one, we encourage you to codify a 10-day visa wait time 

as a standard around the world. Two, we need to direct the State 

Department to tie visa personnel staffing levels to meet this standard. Number three, direct the State Department to pilot the use of 

secure videoconferencing technology in large countries like Brazil 

and China, where people don’t have access to consulates. And finally, we need to look for opportunities to expand the Visa Waiver 

Program, which is included in bipartisan legislation that exists 

both here in the House and in the Senate. 

The second area that we have to address is obviously the entry 

experience. The entry process right now suffers from too few agents 

to meet the considerable demand that we have to come here. Several things that could help us address this issue include establishing a passenger wait time standard of no more than 20 minutes; extending the reach of current staffing resources and expanding the use of global entry; and finally, setting metrics to measure 

the customer service performance of CBP officers at our airports. 

The final thing, as Jim has focused on on the international front, 

is effective promotion. This committee led the way for TPA’s passage. TPA’s passage will drive billions in new spending and support 

tens of thousands of jobs in our country. We need your help in protecting and promoting the Travel Promotion Act as we move forward, and we will obviously have an opportunity at the end of its 

authorization to determine its effectiveness over that period of 

time. 

Switching over to the domestic side, we also have opportunities 

there. We certainly have opportunities to improve our air travel experience, where many travelers today are avoiding travel because 

of the hassles associated with that experience. We encourage you 

to take a hard look at TSA, which was mentioned earlier, and necessary reforms that need to take place there. 

We also need to look, though, at another potential barrier, and 

that is language or policy from Washington that could discourage 

travel. The recent GSA scandal, where individuals acting inappropriately sullied the hardworking men and women of our industry, 

causes our industry great concern, as it does you as well. OMB recently issued guidance to establish greater oversight in reporting. 

The travel industry supports these efforts from OMB. But OMB 

also suggested an arbitrary 30 percent cut in travel that neither we 

or Congress should support. 

Travel should be based on its merits, not on arbitrary mathematics. We welcome the opportunity to work with Congress and the 

administration to ensure that legitimate Federal conferences are 

not unnecessarily canceled, and that responsible Federal travel can 

still take place. We look forward to being your partner in creating 

American jobs and encouraging travel to and within this country. 

51 

Thank you. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Freeman follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. Ms. Harrison, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF DEBORAH MARRIOTT HARRISON 

Ms. HARRISON. Good morning, Chairman Bono Mack, Ranking 

Member Butterfield, and members of the subcommittee. I am 

Debbie Marriott Harrison, senior vice president for government affairs for Marriott International, and I am happy to be here today. 

I am proud to be able to report largely positive news from Marriott 

and the travel industry on this subject. 

I initially want to second the recommendations of my colleagues 

and friends from U.S. Travel Association and Brand USA that are 

here with me on the panel today, and thank them for being here. 

Marriott fully supports the work of these organizations. 

My company is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. Marriott has humble roots that run deep here in Washington, DC. In 

1927, my grandparents opened a nine-stool root beer stand on 14th 

Street after moving to Washington from Utah. Thirty years later, 

they opened their first hotel near Reagan National Airport. My father stepped down in April as the CEO after 60 years of service. 

He oversaw Marriott’s evolution into one of the world’s leading hospitality companies. We now have over 3,700 hotels worldwide, with 

18 brands in 73 different countries. 

Marriott is proud to be expanding and doing its part to put 

Americans back to work. We will have 330,000 associates around 

the globe by the end of this year, with 212,000 of those positions 

here in the United States. I am happy to report that we expect to 

hire some 50,000 people this year in this country. Many of those 

jobs will come from new hotel construction. For every five hotel 

rooms that we add to our system, we create roughly three jobs. 

One of Marriott’s core values is to take care of our people and 

cross-train and promote from within. We offer opportunities to a 

broad swath of U.S. workers, particularly women, minorities, and 

immigrants, and provide meaningful career paths with incredible 

upward mobility. Over half of our general managers rose from the 

hourly ranks, and they have worked for us for an average of 24 

years. 

Congress can help us create additional quality jobs by promoting 

the growth of travel and tourism. In 2011, we were pleased to see 

our business rebound, but there is still a lot more work to be done. 

We are trying to capitalize on the growth of middle classes in 

emerging markets like Brazil, India, and China. 

Marriott is ready to offer a warm welcome to guests from around 

the world. We have 3,100 domestic hotels and want the U.S. to capture the greatest possible share of the growing global travel market. Brand USA has begun the marketing campaign that will accomplish that, and I want to offer my thanks to you, Madam Chair, 

and to several of your colleagues on the subcommittee for your 

votes supporting passage of the Travel Promotion Act that led to 

the creation of Brand USA. 

Marriott has kept its promise to support this public-private partnership. We have made a million-dollar cash investment in the organization, supported by a $2 million pledge of in-kind contributions. We see great potential in Brand USA’s marketing work. We 

61 

would appreciate your continued support of this important campaign. 

We also need to ensure that international travelers are able to 

enter the U.S. as easily and quickly as security allows. We were 

thrilled to see the administration unveil its National Travel and 

Tourism Strategy last week. The strategy contains a number of 

concrete proposals to achieve our international visitation goals. 

We still need Congress to bolster the administration’s efforts. 

Marriott urges members of the subcommittee to support passage of 

reforms to our visa and entry process. Bills being championed by 

Congressmen Heck and Quigley in particular offer an easy means 

to increase the number of inbound international visitors and increase domestic economic activity. In fact, just yesterday the JOLT 

Act was introduced into the House that combines these two bills 

and is a companion bill to the House and the Senate. We would ask 

for your support for the JOLT Act. 

Finally, with respect to domestic travel, I wanted to echo some 

of the comments made by my colleague Geoff Freeman. As we all 

know, the GSA has been scrutinized for the over-the-top meeting 

that they had in Vegas in 2010. We understand and agree with the 

expectation of the American public that nonessential spending be 

cut from Federal agency travel budgets. Marriott urges Congress to 

take appropriate, responsible actions to accomplish that task. 

Inflammatory and reactionary rhetoric about wasteful Federal 

employee trips has prompted the cancellation of numerous legitimate agency meetings. This hurts our business. In the few weeks 

since multiple congressional committees excoriated the GSA, Marriott has seen approximately $4 million in cancellations of signed 

contracts with agencies from across the Federal spectrum. The 

number of cancellations is growing daily. Several examples of these 

cancellations are in my written testimony. The loss in government 

business may translate to lost jobs at Marriott hotels. 

Congress and the administration should pursue policies that preserve the ability of Federal agencies to hold appropriate meetings, 

while strengthening oversight to ensure that those events are conducted according to the rules. Marriott wants to continue to compete for the opportunity to provide Federal agencies with quality 

meeting spaces at a good value. 

I will conclude by saying that the services Marriott and its employees provide cannot be automated or shipped overseas. As a result, the growth of our company and industry represents a major 

opportunity to boost domestic employment. We hope Congress will 

see the value in seizing opportunities to boost travel and tourism 

in the United States as part of its broader agenda to put Americans back to work. 

Again, thank you for this opportunity to share Marriott’s job-creation strategy with the subcommittee, and I look forward to answering your questions. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Ms. Harrison. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Harrison follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. And, Mr. White, welcome. And you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF SCOTT WHITE 

Mr. WHITE. Thank you. Chairman Bono Mack, Ranking Member 

Butterfield, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the 

opportunity to testify today on our destination, Greater Palm 

Springs, the oasis in the California desert. 

It is an important industry for us. It is the leading industry for 

our destination, creating over 24,000 jobs, and producing over $2.1 

billion in economic impact. And it was very nice to see the pride 

everybody has in their different destinations and how they talked 

so eloquently about the reasons why we should visit their destinations. 

Prior to Palm Springs, I spent time in both Phoenix and San Antonio and was able to see firsthand the different dichotomies that 

happen with international visitation into a destination, and I encourage all of you to work with your State offices or your CVBs to 

go on the road and take that passion and maybe attend Pow Wow, 

World Travel Market, ITB and see firsthand what we are competing with on a global basis. We were fortunate this past year to 

bring some mayors with us to Pow Wow, and I think it opened a 

lot of eyes. It certainly did help us for our destination to show that 

we are competing globally. 

And for our destination, it really does affect the small business 

owner. We have over 1,300 partners that work with us on a daily 

basis to really try to keep their employees gainfully employed and 

really dedicated to the passion that they have, which is this industry. 

We are a seasonal destination, and we really see fluxes between 

high season and low season. And our low season is the summertime. And summer for us really is an opportunity for international 

visitation. We see travelers from the U.K., from Germany, from all 

over the world that come, and they are very interested in our destination because of our national parks, Joshua Tree National Park, 

Mount San Jacinto State Park. And we encourage you to support 

and really work with the National Park System to make sure that 

those parks are fully funded and fully have the opportunity to create the enhancements they have and to grow, because that is a big 

driver for our destination and many destinations around the country. 

We are very fortunate to have a lot of growth in the past year. 

This first quarter we have seen growth in occupancy of 12 percent. 

Occupancy is up 6 percent, RevPAR is up 12 percent, ADR is up, 

and we are starting to see our businesses continue to add jobs back 

into the destination. 

It is vital for us to have this relationship with Brand USA. We 

do not have the budget, or the resources, or the manpower to reach 

the emerging markets that we have identified. Our number one 

markets are Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and 

France; however, we see that there is pent-up demand from China, 

India, South America, and many other destinations that are interested in our destination, but we cannot communicate to them nor 

71 

have the resources to really get that message across about the destination. 

And I think we talked a lot today about jobs and the opportunities that it brings not only on the economic impact, but my experience has been when I travel abroad, and we have international 

visitors that come into our destinations, whether it is the Alamo, 

at the River Walk, or it is Phoenix going to the Grand Canyon, or 

for Palm Springs visiting Joshua Tree for their first time, it really 

breaks down the barriers that the people had about their perceptions of this destination. I can’t tell you how many times international travelers would come to the destination with this perception that we are this country that is not welcoming to international 

visitors, and once they meet our partners, they explore our destination, they have an opportunity to meet with us, have a relationship, develop friends and create these acquaintances that really not 

only impacts us as a destination, but impacts our entire country. 

So we are very excited to be partnering with Brand USA. What 

it brings beyond marketing, I think, is an opportunity to reinvite 

people to our destination, reeducate them about the opportunities 

here. And we have found, and I have found through my experiences 

working at CVBs, both, again, in Phoenix, San Antonio, and in 

Palm Springs, is that when we have these opportunities to invite 

these individuals to our destination, they are not only coming as 

a consumer to spend money and shop and have a good time, but 

they are also business owners. They are also looking for opportunities to expand. They are also looking for opportunities to invest. 

And we are seeing more of that. 

So this is a great opportunity and tool for our country, our destination, and for us as a community to really work together to get 

the message across that we are a vibrant community, we are a welcoming community, and we have a lot to offer. 

So the services and support that Greater Palm Springs provides 

to our partners and community are vital to our destination’s economy. We appreciate your time today and opportunity to share our 

viewpoint. We hope Congress recognizes the important of tourism 

in the United States and will support programs that will increase 

travel and ultimately put more Americans back to work. 

Thank you very much. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Mr. White. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. White follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. Dr. Long, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF PATRICK T. LONG 

Mr. LONG. Well, I do believe that the Travel Channel missed a 

great opportunity today not being here to film all of your respective 

comments about your States. 

Chairman Bono Mack, Ranking Member Butterfield, and members of the committee, I do appreciate sincerely the opportunity to 

make comments today. 

My name is Pat Long. I am the founding director of the Center 

for Sustainable Tourism, now located at East Carolina University. 

We are the only such research center in the country, and we now 

host the first and only interdisciplinary Masters of Science graduate degree, a master of science in sustainable tourism. 

I want to acknowledge and compliment all of those who have 

worked so hard to develop this national travel and tourism strategy, particularly John Bryson and Ken Salazar. And I am speaking 

today on the subject of sustainability in tourism, and that means 

balancing profitability with social and environmental responsibility. 

And I would also like to direct some comments to rural tourism as 

well. 

Let me begin my comments by stating that there is nothing more 

unsustainable than a bankrupt business; nor is there a tourism 

destination that I am aware of in the country that attracts visitors 

with polluted water and air, with a trash-infested beach or mountain, that has poor stewardship of its environment or natural resources, has offensive or no hospitality, that destroys its community’s sense of place, and that treats its employees and the residents of the region with disdain. 

The move to sustainability in our Nation’s tourism industry recognizes that economic gain and job growth quickly go away if the 

tourism product is not protected. Thus, I offer you a working definition of sustainable tourism. It should contribute to a balanced and 

healthy economy by generating tourism jobs, revenues, and taxes, 

while protecting and enhancing the destination’s social, historical, 

cultural, built, and natural resources for the enjoyment of both 

residents and visitors. 

Why do companies, why do destinations want sustainable tourism? Well, it decreases their costs, it improves their profits, creates 

greater brand recognition, enhances their reputation, increases 

market share, increases employee loyalty and cost savings, contributes to the overall well-being of the community, and improves relationships or meets regulations with government entities. 

Now, I understand that jobs are paramount in the thinking of 

many of us, but tourism will not be considered an acceptable rural 

economic development strategy if it does not serve the needs of 

local residents in both preserving and honoring what is held most 

dear, and that is their community and those elements and components that contribute to their sense of place. 

For just a moment I would like to have you think about the opportunity of hosting a substantial number of travelers from Europe, 

but these travelers want to come to your State because they would 

like to have a sustainable travel experience. Now, that means they 

want to have a green team, but no greenwashing. They want green 

77 

accommodations built to the highest standards of green building. 

They want locally grown foods, organic foods, foods that are palatable to those that have intolerance to certain food types. They want 

tour operators who provide educational and responsible naturebased, cultural and historic experiences. And they want to travel 

through rural regions or destinations, places with character and 

places with a sense of place. 

Now, if that question was directed to Congressman Butterfield 

about North Carolina, I suspect he and his staff would note the 

Proximity Hotel. That is the Nation’s first LEED-certified at the 

platinum level property in the United States. It has cut its energy 

use by 40 percent, its water use by 30 percent. Its elevator, when 

it descends, generates energy that feeds back into the system. It 

has over 100 solar panels on its rooftop. 

Their staff would talk to you about Mother Earth Brewery and 

the Chef and Farmer in Kinston. Chef and Farmer is a farm-totable food property, a high-end restaurant. Mother Earth Brewery 

is what it is, and it is one of the most attracting entities to the 

town of Kinston. We have the Roanoke River Partners. We have 

got Beaufort, which is the coolest small town in America, and currently working with the center to become the Nation’s first fully 

carbon-neutral, sustainable rural community here in our country. 

In summary, I just want to say that I think sustainability should 

be an ethic and a value with all aspects of the tourism industry, 

and should, in fact, be reflected within our national tourism strategy. All of the Federal agencies represented on the interagency 

council have some type of sustainable initiatives and/or sustainability office. 

And finally, rural communities throughout the country, in addition to our gateway communities, should be encouraged to plan 

thoroughly to effectively use their history, culture, and natural resources to develop a tourism industry that is acceptable to their 

community. 

My thanks. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you, Dr. Long. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Long follows:] 

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Mrs. BONO MACK. And I will recognize myself for 5 minutes for 

questioning. 

And I just want to start by saying that it is clear that we all 

share a very strongly held belief that USA is the number-one brand 

in the history of the world. But I would like to ask my first questions to Mr. White. 

Have you already had interaction with CTP or Brand USA as of 

yet? If yes, how would you describe that interaction? And if not, 

what is your understanding of how Brand USA will assist our tourism campaign back home? 

Mr. WHITE. We have had interaction with Brand USA. We were 

fortunate to be involved on many different fronts. I think they have 

really reached out to try to gain insight from all different destinations. 

The research that they have conducted shows exactly what Dr. 

Long had talked about, is that the international traveler is looking 

to get beyond the gateway cities. The international traveler is very 

savvy. They know how to use the Internet. And the tour operators, 

they know how to find the niche markets. And I think it is an opportunity for us to not only expand upon the opportunity we have 

to reach those international destinations, but more importantly for 

us, it is the emerging destinations like a China, and India, or 

South America that we haven’t been able to reach as we have in 

the past through the Internet that they have, the social media they 

are going to have, the ambassador program they are going to have. 

And so they are relying on our assets and the programs that we 

are creating to partner up with what they are trying to create, because they can give the message, but we have to deliver the product for that person to experience. And we want to make sure we 

are delivering the right product with our partners as well. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Do you have any of the fears that a number 

of the Members have sort of alluded to about picking and choosing 

winners? I have asked the question of the Secretary also. Are you 

worried that they are going to be picking and choosing? 

Mr. WHITE. No. I have been in this industry my entire life, and 

the one thing that I have noticed, and this happens at a regional 

level as well, we see that when we just launched our brand last 

week and we show a video and people start to become concerned, 

I wasn’t in the video, am I going to be realized? And it happens 

as well. 

This organization is really trying to get the message out that this 

country, this destination is in a brand new day. It is going in a new 

lifecycle. There is a new environment here. And the individual is 

going to seek out, through the Internet, through the different avenues, looking for that information. If they are going to look for 

Palm Springs, it is incumbent upon me to make sure that my 

Internet, my information is connecting emotionally with that particular person. 

So I can’t put the entire burden on Brand USA to say, you need 

to represent me as a destination. I just want you to, say, consider 

the United States before you consider Dubai, or Japan, or other 

destinations if you are coming from the U.K. Or Germany, so at 

least I can get my foot in the door and really start to compete for 

that business through a Joshua Tree or Mount San Jacinto. 

91 

So we really want to emphasize that their role is that they cannot impact everybody specifically all the time 100 percent, it is 

physically impossible, but really want to change the perceptions 

that people have internationally about our destination to give me 

the opportunity then to sell my product that we have. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. To compete within—— 

Mr. WHITE. Exactly. Give me that first edge. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. That is terrific. 

Do you see any issues that fall within the Congress or the administration’s domain that must be addressed to facilitate the attraction of and travel by international visitors? Anything else other 

than Brand USA that you would like for us to do now to help? 

Mr. WHITE. Well, Geoff talked about this as well. Obviously, we 

need to be easy to do business with. It has to be easier to get a 

visa, it must be easier to get through customs, it must be easier 

to get through TSA. If they don’t have an experience that is positive as they go through the process, and it is easy to get here, and 

it is not time-consuming and overburdened, they are going to other 

destinations that are more welcoming in that regard. So even 

though we may have a great campaign that says that we are a welcoming destination, we need to prove that as they come through 

the process at the airports, at the different gateways into our country. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. 

Ms. Harrison, you testified that Marriott has already invested 

both funds and in-kind contributions with Brand USA. Can you describe your interaction with Brand USA and how you see that relationship evolving to be the most beneficial? 

Ms. HARRISON. We work very closely with Brand USA and with 

U.S. Travel Association with Geoff Freeman also. And we are very, 

very happy that we have been able to contribute to the Brand USA. 

If you look at the statistics, just take China for example, by the 

year of 2030, 130 million Chinese are expected to travel to the 

United States. They spend on average $7,000 a trip. By partnering 

with Brand USA, hopefully we can get more Chinese visitors to 

come to the United States, to go to Vegas, to go to places like that 

instead of Macao and Australia where they are currently going to. 

And if we get just 10 percent of that number that is expected to 

come to the United States, we would have to build new airports, 

put new gates on, and we would create a number of new jobs. So 

it would be very exciting. 

So we are very excited about our work with Brand USA to get 

more international travelers to the United States. 

Mrs. BONO MACK. Thank you. That is awfully good to hear. 

Mr. Freeman, you recommended adding countries to the Visa 

Waiver Program. What are the impediments that you see to approving a country to the list? 

Mr. FREEMAN. The great aspect about the new Visa Waiver Program that is strongly supported by the Department of Homeland 

Security is that putting countries into this program actually makes 

America more secure. We saw that with the recent additions of 

Eastern European countries, as well as South Korea in recent 

years. 

92 

Right now there is a barrier to further visa waiver expansion due 

to the creation or the implementation of what is considered a biometric exit system. We need to address that issue. There is legislation that exists to address that issue so that we can target countries like Brazil that meet our standards, that we can begin to have 

a conversation with them about increasing their security, their cooperation on lost and stolen passports and other issues to make 

America more competitive. 

As was mentioned earlier, as South Korea was entered into the 

program, we have seen upwards of a 40 percent increase in South 

Koreans coming to the United States. We can expect that and 

greater from Brazil and other countries if we put the right policies 

in place to get them into that program. 

Ms. BONO MACK. Thank you very much. My time has expired. 

Mr. Butterfield, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Let me thank the chairman and thank the five 

of you for your testimony today. I have been listening very carefully, and it has been very informative. I thank you so very much. 

I listened with great interest to the testimony of Ms. Harrison. 

Ms. Harrison, when I was a youngster—I live in North Carolina— 

twice a year my family would drive from North Carolina to New 

York City, and we would come up what was called the Shirley 

Highway. They didn’t have 95 or 395, it was the Shirley Highway. 

In order to get to New York City, you had to go across the 14th 

Street Bridge on up to New York Avenue and make a right turn, 

and right on through Baltimore and up to New York City. It was 

a 12-hour trip. Today it is 8 hours. But we would always break our 

trip at your grandparents’ hotel. 

Ms. HARRISON. Thank you. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. It was $19 a night. I want you to remember 

that. It was $19 a night, and as a youngster I thought that was 

so much money to be spending for a hotel. But I have great memories of staying at that property. So welcome to the committee, and 

thank you for your contribution to this space. 

Ms. HARRISON. You are welcome. And thank you for being such 

a great customer. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Yes. That must have been in 1958, 1959, I 

suppose. 

Ms. HARRISON. It opened in 1957. Hopefully, you also stopped at 

some Hot Shoppes along the way, along the turnpike. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. We did. I was born in 1947. So, yes, I was 

about 11 or 12 years old. I remember it so well. 

Let me direct my question to you, Mr. Freeman. Thank you very 

much for your testimony. I want to talk about highway tolls. I don’t 

know if that is something that you pay much attention to, but it 

is a real hot issue in my State. 

My State department of transportation recently announced plans 

to toll Interstate 95. That highway is one of the most heavily traveled interstates in the entire country. And it just so happens that 

that interstate highway runs right through my congressional district, and so I am opposed to it. It would cost, we are told, $19 for 

a typical car to travel from the Virginia border to the South Carolina border through our State. I know this will impact my constituVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:47 Aug 05, 2013 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00096 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\112-14~1\112-14~1 WAYNE
93 

ents in my district, and they have expressed frustration over this 

tolling plan, and so I have introduced a bill to try to deal with that. 

In addition to North Carolina’s tolling plan, there have also been 

talks about tolling Interstate 95 in Virginia, our neighbor to the 

north. And I suppose that that toll could cost as much as $19 or 

$20. So when you put the $20 in Virginia together with the $20 in 

North Carolina, that is $40 for a tourist to travel from the New 

England part of the country perhaps down to Disney or to Myrtle 

Beach or Charleston, some of the Southern destinations. That is 

$40, not to mention the cost of a truck, a commercial vehicle, to 

make that trip. And then when they return back to their point of 

origin, that is another $40. That is $80 in tolls that is added to the 

family’s budget, and I am fearful that this may discourage to some 

extent our tourism traffic. 

In your opinion, how does tolling impact tourism, if you have any 

words of wisdom on that? 

Mr. FREEMAN. Well, Mr. Butterfield, I think your comments are 

valid and well taken. When you look at travel in this country, 

about 85 percent of it takes place by car. So it is certainly an issue 

we need to address. We have a significant infrastructure challenge 

in this country. Certainly, our infrastructure is falling behind that 

of other nations around the world. Our own civil engineers give our 

roads a D-minus when it comes to infrastructure. 

We also lack a way to pay for the necessary reforms. So we 

would look forward to working with you and others in finding a 

long-term and sustainable funding model for improving the Nation’s infrastructure. Tolls may or may not play a role in that 

space, and we have not done any research to date to see the effectiveness of—or the effect the tolls have on the decision to travel. 

But what we do know is we have to take our infrastructure weaknesses seriously and make some of the improvements that are necessary. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And as State budgets begin to get strained, 

this is going to be a problem even more in the out years, you know, 

how to maintain interstate highways. Do you do it with tolling, or 

is there some alternative mechanism for doing it? 

Mr. FREEMAN. Absolutely. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Dr. Long, you are from the eastern part of 

North Carolina. I am sure you have heard this debate. And I am 

right squarely in the middle of it. And certainly I understand the 

importance of planning for the future, but I also understand the 

strain that is being placed on tourists and local families. Can you 

help us with this? 

Mr. LONG. I do not have the expertise to respond in a really credible way at the moment, but it is a topic that is on our radar screen 

and that we are collecting information as we speak to better understand the various aspects of that issue. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And you can certainly appreciate the interests 

that have to be balanced in making this decision. 

Mr. LONG. Yes, we do. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Again, Dr. Long, I was very interested to hear 

about how various businesses in the travel and tourism sector have 

taken to an ethic of sustainable tourism, not just because it is the 

right thing to do for the environment, but also because certain 

94 

steps can save a great deal of money even in the short to medium 

term. 

Is my time up? All right. I yield back. 

Mr. HARPER [presiding]. The gentleman yields back. 

The chair will now recognize the gentleman from Texas Mr. 

Olson for 5 minutes. 

Mr. OLSON. I thank the chair. 

And welcome to the witnesses. Thank you for your time and your 

expertise today. 

And it is unfortunate that my colleague from Kansas had to 

leave a little bit early, but I can assure you when I get to see him 

on the floor today, I am going to tell him that while I was shamelessly promoting the Lone Star State by the slogan that Texas is 

like another country, I was indirectly promoting Kansas, because 

for about 9 years, the southwestern part of Kansas was part of the 

Republic of Texas, part of this country that was Texas. So if it is 

good for Texas, it is good for Kansas. 

My first question for you, Mr. Evans: You know, you mentioned 

in your opening statement that our share of international arrivals 

declined by 37 percent, from 17 percent of the world market to 12.4 

percent today. If we just maintained our market share over that 

period you mentioned 467,000 American jobs would have been created. 

We want to ensure that everyone, rural and urban, benefits from 

Brand USA’s marketing efforts, but we also need to make sure it 

operates beyond controversy, and that we target true foreign destinations that foreign visitors want to go to. I mentioned in my 

comments earlier that Buffalo Gap, Texas, Perini’s Steakhouse 

there, that is a great destination. They will even give you a cowboy 

hat. But very few people, I think, from overseas want to go to 

Perini’s in Buffalo Gap, Texas. 

So what is the policy of Brand USA regarding the promotion of 

a particular location to make sure that we truly target where foreign tourists will visit? 

Mr. EVANS. So I am not sure it is a policy, but our work pattern 

is that we will work with anyone and everyone, and have interest 

in working with all States. In fact, we have a program under development right now with the State of Texas through Julie Chase, 

who is your head of tourism, to make sure that we are comarketing 

together to help her to approach the issues that she is dealing with 

in trying to increase international tourism by helping her expand 

her investments, by adding her into some of the investments that 

we will be making with our brand. 

So as far as, you know, individual towns are concerned, that is 

probably a little bit more difficult issue because they really don’t 

have the budgets to partner. So we would expect that she—they 

would look to Julie and the State of Texas to make sure they are 

partnering with Brand USA to extend their marketing reach as far 

as possible. 

Mr. OLSON. So the States become the liaison between you and 

the people back home. 

Mr. EVANS. The States and many CVBs. 

Mr. OLSON. Outstanding. Great. Thank you. 

95 

A question for you, Ms. Harrison. First of all, I want to thank 

you, because the Marriott hotel in the town center in Sugar Land, 

Texas, where I live, my home, is doing its share to promote international tourism. And let me explain that. 

A recent study found that the Greater Houston area was the 

most diverse, ethnically diverse, large city in America. Number 

one. And Fort Bend County, where I live, was the most diverse 

part of the Greater Houston area. In fact, this past Saturday I was 

at a wedding there at the Marriott there in town center. And I was 

not at the wedding, I was at another event, but there was a wedding going on, and these were Indian Americans. And many of 

those people had to get passports and had to come here, and they 

found a home at your hotel for a couple of days. And I thank you 

for that. One thing you guys couldn’t accommodate was the bride 

could not ride in on the elephant. You guys had no room for the 

elephant there. You are doing your share. 

I just want to follow up on the comments that the chairman had 

when she was here. But how are you using Brand USA to coordinate with the Federal office that is involved in this process that the 

first panelists mentioned? The Federal Government, we have got 

these offices, boards, all these groups out there. How are you communicating with them with Brand USA to make sure that the left 

hand knows what the right hand is doing, that you are not duplicating your efforts at Marriott? Because you guys are doing great 

things. 

Ms. HARRISON. We have a lot of associates in our corporate headquarters, and we have several of them that work very closely with 

Brand USA in the marketing department. And part of our in-kind 

contributions are coming from working with them on the marketing 

and putting things up on our Web sites. And we work in concert 

with them to help promote the United States as a destination 

through our channels. We have huge distribution channels with our 

reservation channels, and many people go on line every year. And 

so we work with them to market Brand USA. So we have several 

people in our corporate headquarters that work very closely with 

them. And we work closely with them on the policy pieces of it to 

try and get our visas streamlined and the wait times down and so 

that they can market that. 

Part of what Brand USA does that we find that is so valuable 

is that they also educate the traveling public as to what is expected 

when they go to the consulates. You know, the fingerprints have 

to be taken, those kinds of things. So they market, but they also 

educate, and we appreciate that. 

Mr. OLSON. Thank you. That sounds like a true quasi-public-private partnership that works very well. 

One final question for you, Mr. Freeman. I am running out of 

time. But how does the waiting time for the U.S. entry screening 

process compare to other similar nations? How are we doing? It 

sounds like we are not doing very well. 

Mr. FREEMAN. When it comes to visa wait times, America is at 

a huge competitive disadvantage. Brazilians are not required to 

have a visa to go to Western Europe. That puts America—when 

you consider that the U.S. often had a wait time of over 90 days, 

96 

100 days at times, it put America at a huge competitive disadvantage. 

And we heard talk before of perhaps Americans losing visitors 

because of competition. Another way of saying that is America is 

losing visitors because of its lack of competitiveness, because we 

are not putting the policies and the resources in place to put ourselves on a par with our competitors around the world. 

The State Department has made great strides. What we all need 

to do is help them to make these things sustainable with some of 

the policies we discussed earlier. 

Mr. OLSON. Thank you. I am out of time. I yield back. 

Mr. HARPER. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas Mr. 

Gonzalez for 5 minutes. 

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

Real quick observations, then I will ask a question. You heard 

me question the Under Secretary or Assistant Secretary about coordinating their effort to the different agencies and departments. 

You really need to be keeping us informed as to where you don’t 

see that coordination taking place. 

The reason for it, by the very nature of the beast, all of these 

different departments and agencies have different priorities. You 

know, DHS is going to be obviously different even from State Department, and State Department will be different from Department 

of Commerce. We run into this all of the time, and it is a legitimate 

factor that we need to take into consideration. 

I heard you about government conferences, agencies and departments. You are going to see more of that. We are really cutting 

spending, both sides of the aisle. I mean, it is just going to be out 

there. I think you need to prepare for that. And I see organizations 

and associations, bar Associations and such, doing the same thing 

because of the teleconferencing that is out there, and it is cheaper. 

It has tremendous impact. 

Scott White will tell you; I am from San Antonio, and I don’t tell 

have to tell you what the tourism means to my city. I am not 

happy about it, yet I don’t know how we are going to be able to 

resolve that. When we talk about austerity measures and such, you 

need to be explaining that to your Members of Congress, that there 

are real economic consequences to you, your business and to jobs 

throughout America. 

You know, Mr. Long, you pointed something out. Two weeks from 

today—at least I hope that I will be—I will be in northern California. The first thing I am checking are all the State parks, hours 

of operation, maintenance and everything else. It is not what it 

used to be. You are not real sure what is open anymore. And I 

know California may be unique in some ways, but I have been in 

New Mexico, too. It is not the same, and that is a very, very real 

concern to me. 

The other thing, of course, is infrastructure. The truth is we 

know what it would take, we are just not willing to pay for it. I 

have said this often, and I know President Eisenhower set out to 

build an interstate highway system that has served us well to this 

very day. And people tell me that back then he was able to sell it 

on the proposition it was a national security issue. I don’t know if 

97 

that is true or not, but I do know this, that he raised substantially 

the tax on gasoline. 

Now, that is what it really takes to do anything in this country 

regarding our bridges, and our roads and infrastructure. It is not 

going to happen. This Congress would not have embarked on an 

interstate highway system. I mean, that is just a fact. I don’t know 

if anybody here is going to dispute that or not. 

With that, let me ask you this, Mr. Evans: How did you people 

get information before they travel? I think we all know the answer, 

but you tell me. 

Mr. EVANS. I think a variety of ways, but I think in today’s marketplace—I will give you several. One is our Web site, 

discoveramerica.com. All of our States have Web sites that people 

will use to gain information. Travel agents around the world, 

wholesalers around the world provide that type of information, as 

well as social media has become a great resource for people as they 

begin to plan trips. 

We have an application on our Web site called ‘‘Suitcase’’ that 

people can click into and investigate States and cities and begin to 

put together their trip through, you know, not only checking the 

cost of flying, but checking the cost and the mileage of driving, so 

it helps them plan trips. 

So I think today with the social media, with our Web site, and 

with the network of travel industry, people have more resources 

than ever to investigate and to plan their trips. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. So in a word, it is the Internet. This committee 

has jurisdiction over telecommunications. We probably have a 

greater intimate knowledge of how it works from its infrastructure 

to every moving part. You also need to be telling us how it serves 

you, problems that you have. And we know the world has changed, 

and how do you get your message out there? Search engine placement is placement, advertising is advertising, and you have a 

bunch of middle people now. Basically I could go to a Marriott Web 

site, but the truth is I have got all these brokers out there, and we 

need to understand that, and where you think we can be of assistance, you need to be telling us. 

I only have a few seconds, so your answer has to be very precise, 

concise. What is the one thing—if you asked Congress to do today 

and we could grant it, what is the one thing to help you? In just 

5 seconds. 

Mr. EVANS. I would keep focusing on visa waiver issues, and improving that process, and do everything that people can to support 

Brand USA in our messaging around the world. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Freeman. 

Mr. FREEMAN. Listen to Jim’s advice on the visa waiver program. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Ms. Harrison? 

Ms. HARRISON. Listen to Jim also. 

Mr. WHITE. Agree. Visa waiver program. 

Mr. LONG. I agree and add a strong element of research to that 

as well. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thanks very much for your testimony. 

I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. HARPER. The gentleman yields back. The chair will now recognize himself for questioning for 5 minutes. 

98 

And we thank each of you for being here, and I can assure you 

despite my friend’s comments about the interstate highway, it is 

clear that highways, roads, bridges have always had strong bipartisan support. It is imperative that we do that. 

But I would start with this, if I could, and ask Mr. Freeman, how 

much do gasoline and aviation and fuel prices affect the type of 

travel that we are talking about today? 

Mr. FREEMAN. There is no doubt as travel becomes more expensive, it has a consequence on how it is used. At the same time, 

however, we have seen that travelers are awfully resilient. We saw 

that as gas prices rose in 2007. We saw it again earlier this year 

as gas prices rose. When you look at that increase of even $1 a gallon, when you look at it over the cost of a trip, you may be adding $20 to the cost 

of your trip. Certainly when you look at fuel prices, you have some 

serious issues there, and the fuel prices have led the airlines to put 

in place many new ancillary fees that drive certain costs of travel 

now. Those are certainly a concern for many travelers. 

We are particularly concerned about the issue of carry-on bag 

fees and the effect that that has, and it all starts with those fuel 

prices, the effect that has on the TSA experience. According to 

TSA, you have seen a $260 million cost to taxpayers because of the 

increase of 50 percent of bags coming through. 

Mr. HARPER. When it comes to an individual family that might 

be traveling versus a group tour, does that gas at the pump have 

a bigger impact for that group tour? 

Mr. FREEMAN. It certainly could. The data tends to show that 

travelers are awfully resilient, but that is not an excuse for not 

finding a long-term policy, and we certainly need to get that figured out. 

Mr. HARPER. Certainly. And if there is a way to get gas prices 

back down, that is going to help towards—that is a given. 

Mr. FREEMAN. It will certainly help. 

Mr. HARPER. On the international travelers, when you are giving 

that response, you are referring to domestic as well as international travelers. 

Mr. FREEMAN. I am largely referring to domestic. The one thing 

we have seen with international travelers, even when the currency 

in the United States—when the dollar was weak, we weren’t seeing 

the number of visitors that we needed. The visa policies, the entry 

policies, the promotion are the key things with international travelers. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. 

Mr. Evans, have you identified any areas where the administration or Congress can assist in growing the number of international 

visitors by revisiting any particular regulations or laws other than 

the waiver, visa waiver? 

Mr. EVANS. I am not sure about regulations or laws, but we are 

working right now with the State Department and helping them 

to—excuse me, them helping us to launch our promotions in country. Right now we are looking at some test operations in Canada 

and in France and Germany that we hope to launch before the 

summer is out where we would do something to help improve the 

experience of waiting in the waiting area for visa processing, as 

99 

well as we launch, because our ambassadors have so many contacts 

in country, that they could help us meet many of the leaders in the 

community. And so we are talking about some launch parties in 

those test countries also. 

Mr. HARPER. And I am just curious. You stated that you estimate current in-kind contributions around $20 million, I believe. 

Mr. EVANS. You know, it is a hard number to just hold to. I think in our pipeline right now, we are probably $31 million. But the 

process of valuing that at fair market brings it down somewhere 

near $20 million. 

Mr. HARPER. Well, can you discuss what those in-kind contributions entail? 

Mr. EVANS. It is a variety of things. It is everything from an airline seat or a hotel room, where we are given access to those assets 

to build travel packages around or to use internally for our own 

personal travel. We have a team of people going out to Marriott 

this Friday—I think it is our third meeting—to begin talking about 

how we can create in-kind marketing opportunities. That ranges 

from everything from putting our logo on your advertising, to your 

Web site, to creating a 50/50 cooperative marketing opportunity. 

Mr. HARPER. Got you. 

All right. At this time I will recognize the gentleman from Illinois Mr. Kinzinger for questioning for 5 minutes. 

Mr. KINZINGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I have to echo your comments you made about the interstate system. This is a majority that has been very supportive of infrastructure, I think it is important to say. 

But I thank you for the time, and I am glad we are all on the 

same page when it comes to the importance of increasing our travel 

and tourism in the United States, obviously a very important industry. 

Increased travel achieves significant foreign policy objectives as 

well by introducing international visitors to our best goodwill ambassadors, which is our citizens. In fact, if you go out on the Mall 

here in Washington, DC, you are shown many people from around 

the world that come and get their picture taken in front of a great 

symbol of what American freedom is, either the Capitol or the 

White House, or any of the other landmarks. 

I am a cosponsor of the Welcoming Business Travelers and Tourists to America Act, which will remove the self-imposed barriers in 

the business and tourist visa application process that is presently 

discouraging travel to United States, as we have talked about. I am 

working to ensure that hopefully we will see action in the House 

on this legislation before the end of the year. 

For a moment, though, I want to switch gears and turn our attention to U.S. citizens traveling abroad. I have been concerned 

about the health and safety of U.S. travelers abroad and ensuring 

that our consumers have the most important safety and health information when booking international travel on line. I am a lead 

sponsor of the International Travelers Bill of Rights, which is a bill 

that would require online travel operators to display certain health 

and safety services available at hotels, and it requires the State 

Department to update the record of overseas deaths of U.S. citizens 

from unnatural causes on a monthly basis, including locality. 

100 

It is so much easier for consumers to book foreign travel on line, 

and they may or may not be aware of the safety and health problems at a particular hotel or region that is present without this information. 

So my first question is to Ms. Harrison and Mr. Freeman. Do you 

believe that consumers have enough information when booking foreign travel at a hotel that is not U.S. owned or U.S. Based? 

Ms. HARRISON. I am not sure that I have the expertise to speak 

on that, but this has come up before, and our feeling is that there— 

if you go on line and you book a hotel room at one of our hotels 

overseas, you are also able to contact that hotel and ask those pertinent questions that may concern you and may worry you. 

As far as having lifeguards at every pool and those kinds of 

issues, that is sort of done by a regional basis, a hotel-by-hotel 

basis. I think that the information is accessible on line, and customers are certainly welcome to call our general manager. 

Mr. KINZINGER. And I don’t think, you know, necessarily American-based hotels even overseas are as big of a problem as what we 

see is hotels that are owned and operated overseas. I had a specific 

case of somebody in my district who lost a son, and this is information that would have been probably very handy to them. 

Mr. Freeman, do you have any input on this at all? 

Mr. FREEMAN. We are an organization that is entirely focused on 

travel, too, within the United States. I think your last comment is 

important, though, because the access to information is what will 

be difficult for many, perhaps those tour operators and others, 

booking that travel overseas. If they don’t have access to the information, it is going to become very difficult to share. 

Mr. KINZINGER. I don’t know if anybody else on the panel had 

any thoughts or anything. 

And do you believe the current State Department—probably 

along the same lines, probably give me about the same answer— 

but do you believe the current State Department travel warnings 

and overseas death notifications are distributed in a manner that 

is useful in informing travelers of any unforeseen dangers? Anybody? Same basic answer on that? 

OK. I think it is an important—and I understand where your-all 

areas of expertise are, but I think it is something that obviously 

is very important when we talk about U.S. citizens traveling 

abroad that they have that information available to them. 

So with that, thank you for your patience and coming in today, 

and I yield back. 

Mr. HARPER. The gentleman yields back. 

I want to thank each of you for being here today. You have added 

some valuable insight and have been a great resource for the committee. And we wish each of you well. And as we travel across the 

country, we hope we will see you again. 

I remind Members that they have 10 business days to submit 

questions for the record, and I ask the witnesses to please respond 

promptly to any questions they may receive. 

This hearing is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:38 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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