I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6965 

To promote travel and tourism in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2022 

Ms. TITUS (for herself, Mr. CASE, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 

in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and the Judiciary, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To promote travel and tourism in the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Visit America Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

6 The purposes of this Act are— 

7 (1) to support the travel and tourism industry, 

8 which produces economic impacts that are vital to 

9 our national economy; and 


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1 (2) to establish national goals for international 

2 visitors to the United States, including— 

3 (A) recommendations for achieving such 

4 goals and timelines for implementing such rec5 ommendations; 

6 (B) coordination between Federal and 

7 State agencies; 

8 (C) the resources needed by each Govern9 ment agency to achieve such goals; and 

10 (D) the number of international visitors 

11 and the value of national travel exports. 

12 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) setting a national goal for the number of 

15 international visitors to the United States is vital for 

16 aligning Federal tourism policy to support American 

17 jobs and economic growth; 

18 (2) setting a national goal for travel exports is 

19 vital for aligning Federal tourism policy to support 

20 American jobs, increase travel exports, and improve 

21 our Nation’s balance of trade; 

22 (3) the travel industry is an essential part of 

23 the United States services exports with respect to 

24 business, education, medical, and leisure travel; 


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1 (4) the promotion of travel and visitation by the 

2 Corporation for Travel Promotion (doing business as 

3 ‘‘Brand USA’’) is vital to increasing visitation and 

4 articulating the visitation laws of the United States; 

5 and 

6 (5) there is an urgent need for a coordinated 

7 travel and tourism industry response and strategy to 

8 respond to the current state of such industry and fu9 ture unforeseen circumstances that may impact the 

10 travel and tourism industry. 

11 SEC. 4. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM. 

12 Section 2(d) of the Reorganization Plan Numbered 

13 3 of 1979 (93 Stat. 1382; 5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘There shall be in the Depart15 ment two additional Assistant Secretaries’’ and in16 serting ‘‘(1) There shall be in the Department 3 ad17 ditional Assistant Secretaries, including the Assist18 ant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tour19 ism,’’; and 

20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(2) The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

22 Travel and Tourism shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) be appointed by the President, sub24 ject to the advice and consent of the Senate; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) report directly to the Under Sec2 retary for International Trade.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

4 OF COMMERCE FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM. 

5 (a) VISITATION GOALS.—The Assistant Secretary of 

6 Commerce for Travel and Tourism (referred to in this sec7 tion as the ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’), appointed pursuant to 

8 section 2(d) of the Reorganization Plan Numbered 3 of 

9 1979, as amended by section 4, shall— 

10 (1) establish an annual goal, consistent with the 

11 goals of the travel and tourism strategy developed 

12 pursuant to section 6(1), for— 

13 (A) the number of international visitors to 

14 the United States; and 

15 (B) the value of travel exports; 

16 (2) develop recommendations for achieving the 

17 annual goals established pursuant to paragraph (1); 

18 (3) ensure that travel and tourism policy is de19 veloped in consultation with— 

20 (A) the Tourism Policy Council; 

21 (B) the Secretary of Homeland Security; 

22 (C) the National Travel and Tourism Of23 fice; 

24 (D) Brand USA; 


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1 (E) the United States Travel and Tourism 

2 Advisory Board; and 

3 (F) travel industry partners, including 

4 public and private destination marketing orga5 nizations, travel and tourism suppliers, and 

6 labor representatives from these industries; 

7 (4) establish short-, medium-, and long-term 

8 timelines for implementing the recommendations de9 veloped pursuant to paragraph (2); 

10 (5) conduct Federal agency needs assessments, 

11 in consultation with the Office of Management and 

12 Budget, to identify the resources, statutory or regu13 latory changes, and private sector engagement need14 ed to achieve the annual visitation goals; and 

15 (6) provide assessments and recommendations 

16 to— 

17 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

18 and Transportation of the Senate; 

19 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com20 merce of the House of Representatives; and 

21 (C) the public through a publicly accessible 

22 website. 

23 (b) VISA ADJUDICATION.—The Assistant Secretary, 

24 in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Sec25 retary of Homeland Security, shall— 


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1 (1) explore strategies for improving visitor visa 

2 processing with respect to— 

3 (A) the maximum time for processing 

4 visas, by visitation type; 

5 (B) regulatory and policy changes needed 

6 to meet the visa processing goals referred to in 

7 subparagraph (A), including changes regarding 

8 technology, processing centers, and training; 

9 and 

10 (C) streamlining visa applications and ad11 judications, including application design and 

12 data collection procedures; and 

13 (2) explore opportunities to establish pilot pro14 grams to integrate technology into the visitor visa 

15 adjudication process, including video conferencing 

16 and biometrics. 

17 (c) DOMESTIC TRAVEL AND TOURISM.—The Assist18 ant Secretary, to the extent feasible, shall— 

19 (1) evaluate, on an ongoing basis, domestic pol20 icy options for supporting competitiveness with re21 spect to the strengths, weaknesses, and growth of 

22 the domestic travel industry; 

23 (2) develop recommendations and goals to sup24 port and enhance domestic tourism, separated by 

25 business and leisure; and 


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1 (3) engage public and private stakeholders to 

2 support domestic tourism. 

3 (d) WORKFORCE.—The Assistant Secretary shall— 

4 (1) consult with the Secretary of Labor to de5 velop strategies and best practices for improving the 

6 timeliness and reliability of travel and tourism work7 force data; 

8 (2) work with the Secretary of Labor and the 

9 Bureau of Economic Analysis to improve travel and 

10 tourism industry data; and 

11 (3) provide recommendations for policy en12 hancements and efficiencies. 

13 (e) TRAVEL EXPORT PROMOTION.—The Assistant 

14 Secretary, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of 

15 Commerce for Global Markets and the Director General 

16 of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, 

17 shall work to promote and facilitate travel exports abroad 

18 and ensure competitiveness by engaging in, at a min19 imum— 

20 (1) promoting meetings, incentives, conferences, 

21 and exhibitions; 

22 (2) emphasizing rural and other destinations 

23 rich in cultural heritage or ecological tourism, 

24 among other uniquely American destinations; and 


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1 (3) promoting sports and recreation events and 

2 activities, which shall be hosted in the United 

3 States. 

4 (f) RECOVERY STRATEGY.— 

5 (1) INITIAL RECOVERY STRATEGY.—Not later 

6 than 1 year after amounts are appropriated to ac7 complish the purposes of this section, the Assistant 

8 Secretary, in consultation with public and private 

9 stakeholders identified in subsection (a)(3) and pub10 lic health officials, shall develop and implement a 

11 COVID–19 public health emergency recovery strat12 egy to assist the United States travel and tourism 

13 industry to quickly recover from the pandemic. 

14 (2) FUTURE RECOVERY STRATEGIES.—After 

15 assisting in the implementation of the strategy de16 veloped pursuant to paragraph (1), the Assistant 

17 Secretary, in consultation with appropriate public 

18 and private stakeholders, shall develop additional re19 covery strategies for the travel and tourism industry 

20 in anticipation of other unforeseen catastrophic 

21 events that would significantly affect the travel and 

22 tourism industry, such as hurricanes, floods, 

23 tsunamis, tornadoes, terrorist attacks, and 

24 pandemics. 


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1 (3) COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.—In developing 

2 the COVID–19 public health emergency recovery 

3 strategy under paragraph (1) and additional recov4 ery strategies for the travel and tourism industry 

5 under paragraph (2), the Assistant Secretary shall 

6 conduct cost-benefit analyses that take into account 

7 the health and economic effects of public health 

8 mitigation measures on the travel and tourism in9 dustry. 

10 (g) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The Assistant 

12 Secretary shall produce an annual forecasting report 

13 on the travel and tourism industry, to the extent 

14 feasible, which shall include current and antici15 pated— 

16 (A) domestic employment needs; 

17 (B) international inbound volume and 

18 spending, taking into account the lasting effects 

19 of the COVID–19 public health emergency and 

20 the impact of the recovery strategy implemented 

21 pursuant to subsection (f)(1); and 

22 (C) domestic volume and spending, includ23 ing Federal and State public land travel and 

24 tourism data. 


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1 (2) BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS.—The Di2 rector of the Bureau of Economic Analysis should 

3 annually update, to the extent feasible, the Travel 

4 and Tourism Satellite Accounts, including— 

5 (A) State level travel and tourism spending 

6 data; 

7 (B) travel and tourism workforce data for 

8 full-time and part-time employment; and 

9 (C) Federal and State public lands spend10 ing data. 

11 (3) NATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM OF12 FICE.—The Director of the National Travel and 

13 Tourism Office— 

14 (A) in partnership with the Bureau of Eco15 nomic Analysis, shall report international ar16 rival and spending data on a regular monthly 

17 schedule, which shall be made available to the 

18 Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and to the 

19 public through a publicly available website; and 

20 (B) shall include questions in the Survey 

21 of International Air Travelers regarding wait22 times, visits to public lands, and State data, to 

23 the extent applicable. 


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1 SEC. 6. TRAVEL AND TOURISM STRATEGY. 

2 Not less frequently than once every 10 years, the Sec3 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the United 

4 States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, the Tourism 

5 Policy Council, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

6 shall develop and submit to Congress a 10-year travel and 

7 tourism strategy, which shall include— 

8 (1) the establishment of goals with respect to 

9 the number of annual international visitors to the 

10 United States and the annual value of travel exports 

11 during such 10-year period; 

12 (2) the resources needed to achieve the goals es13 tablished pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

14 (3) recommendations for statutory or regulatory 

15 changes that would be necessary to achieve such 

16 goals. 

17 SEC. 7. UNITED STATES TRAVEL AND TOURISM ADVISORY 

18 BOARD. 

19 Section 3 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to encourage 

20 travel in the United States, and for other purposes’’ (15 

21 U.S.C. 1546) is amended— 

22 (1) by amending the section heading to read as 

23 follows: ‘‘united states travel and tourism advisory 

24 board; advisory committee’’; and 

25 (2) by striking ‘‘The Secretary of Commerce is 

26 authorized’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(a) UNITED STATES TRAVEL AND TOURISM ADVI2 SORY BOARD.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established the 

4 United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board 

5 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘Board’), the 

6 members of which shall be appointed by the Sec7 retary of Commerce for 2-year terms from among 

8 companies and organizations in the travel and tour9 ism industry. 

10 ‘‘(2) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The Assistant 

11 Secretary for Travel and Tourism shall serve as the 

12 Executive Director of the Board. 

13 ‘‘(3) EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT.—The Director 

14 of the National Travel and Tourism Office of the 

15 International Trade Administration shall serve as 

16 the Executive Secretariat for the Board. 

17 ‘‘(4) FUNCTIONS.—The Board’s Charter shall 

18 specify that the Board will— 

19 ‘‘(A) serve as the advisory body to the Sec20 retary of Commerce on matters relating to the 

21 travel and tourism industry in the United 

22 States; 

23 ‘‘(B) advise the Secretary of Commerce on 

24 Government policies and programs that affect 

25 the United States travel and tourism industry; 


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1 ‘‘(C) offer counsel on current and emerg2 ing issues; 

3 ‘‘(D) provide a forum for discussing and 

4 proposing solutions to problems related to the 

5 travel and tourism industry; and 

6 ‘‘(E) provide advice regarding the domestic 

7 travel and tourism industry as an economic en8 gine. 

9 ‘‘(5) RECOVERY STRATEGY.—The Board shall 

10 assist the Assistant Secretary in the development 

11 and implementation of the COVID–19 public health 

12 emergency recovery strategy required under section 

13 5(f)(1) of the Visit America Act. 

14 ‘‘(b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROMOTION OF

15 TOURIST TRAVEL.—The Secretary of Commerce is au16 thorized’’. 

17 SEC. 8. DATA ON DOMESTIC TRAVEL AND TOURISM. 

18 The Secretary of Commerce, subject to the avail19 ability of appropriations, shall collect and make public ag20 gregate data on domestic travel and tourism trends by in21 dividuals traveling between points within the United 

22 States. 

23 SEC. 9. DEFINED TERM. 

24 In this Act, the term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emer25 gency’’— 


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1 (1) means the public health emergency first de2 clared on January 31, 2020, by the Secretary of 

3 Health and Human Services under section 319 of 

4 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) with 

5 respect to COVID–19; and 

6 (2) includes any renewal of such declaration 

7 pursuant to such section 319. 

Æ 


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