II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3225 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a competitive grant program 

to promote domestic regional tourism. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2010 

Mr. BEGICH (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a competitive grant program to promote domestic regional tourism. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Travel Regional Invest5 ment Partnership Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The importance of travel and tourism can9 not be overstated: travel and tourism employs Amer10 ica. 


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1 (2) Approximately 8,300,000 domestic jobs de2 pend on the travel and tourism industry. 

3 (3) The United States travel and tourism in4 dustry— 

5 (A) generates more than 

6 $691,000,000,000 annually in direct spending, 

7 of which more than 85 percent is the result of 

8 domestic travel; and 

9 (B) generates more than 

10 $1,200,000,000,000 in total spending, if indi11 rect spending is included. 

12 (4) The travel and tourism industry accounts 

13 for 2.6 percent of the Nation’s gross domestic prod14 uct, nearly 4 times that of the automotive industry. 

15 (5) Domestic employment related to the travel 

16 and tourism industry cannot be outsourced to other 

17 countries. 

18 (6) The current economic downturn has created 

19 the most difficult economic environment for the do20 mestic travel and tourism industry since the period 

21 following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 

22 2001. 

23 (7) Travel and tourism revenues dropped by 

24 nearly $130,000,000,000 during 2009. The domestic 

25 tourism economy has fallen by nearly 4.5 percent 


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1 during 2009, twice the rate of the overall economy 

2 of the United States. 

3 (8) Domestic spending on travel and tourism 

4 has been in decline since the fourth quarter of fiscal 

5 year 2008, while employment in the travel and tour6 ism industry has been falling since the second quar7 ter of such year. 

8 (9) Public-private partnerships have been un9 derutilized in the promotion of travel and tourism 

10 and are a dynamic tool in creating new domestic 

11 tourism markets and promoting domestic regional 

12 tourism growth. 

13 SEC. 3. DOMESTIC REGIONAL TOURISM GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Commerce 

15 shall establish a competitive grant program, to be adminis16 tered by the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, to 

17 promote domestic regional tourism growth and new do18 mestic tourism market creation. 

19 (b) RANGE OF GRANT MONETARY AMOUNTS.—The 

20 amount of each grant awarded under this section shall be 

21 at least $100,000 and not more than $1,000,000. 

22 (c) GRANTEE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Grants may be 

24 awarded under this section to— 

25 (A) State tourism offices; 


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1 (B) local convention and visitors bureaus; 

2 and 

3 (C) partnerships between a State or local 

4 government and local tourism entities. 

5 (2) REGIONAL DIVERSITY.—In awarding grants 

6 under this section, the Secretary may consider— 

7 (A) giving priority to regions with low con8 tributions to tourism marketing; 

9 (B) maintaining regional diversity of grant 

10 recipients; and 

11 (C) providing benefits to rural and less12 marketed destinations. 

13 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under 

14 this section may be used to— 

15 (A) promote domestic regional tourism 

16 growth; and 

17 (B) create new domestic tourism markets. 

18 (4) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 

19 (A) SUBMISSION.—An eligible entity seek20 ing a grant under this section shall submit an 

21 application to the Secretary at such time, in 

22 such form, and with such information and as23 surances as the Secretary may require. 

24 (B) CONTENTS.—Each application sub25 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall include— 


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1 (i) a description of the tourist pro2 motion activities to be funded by the grant; 

3 and 

4 (ii) in the case of a partnership be5 tween a State or local government and 

6 local tourism entities— 

7 (I) a list of the specific tourist 

8 entities that such government has 

9 partnered with in order promote tour10 ism within the relevant domestic re11 gion; 

12 (II) the details of the partnership 

13 agreement; 

14 (III) specific information explain15 ing how such partnership will increase 

16 regional tourism; and 

17 (IV) the anticipated positive im18 pact of the partnership on job cre19 ation and employment in the relevant 

20 domestic region. 

21 (d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

22 (1) NON-FEDERAL FUNDS.—As a condition for 

23 receiving a grant under this section, the grant recipi24 ent shall provide, either directly or through dona25 tions from public or private entities, non-Federal 


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1 matching funds, in cash or in-kind, in an amount 

2 equal to the amount of the grant. 

3 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR IN-KIND DONATIONS.— 

4 Of the amount of non-Federal matching funds re5 quired under paragraph (1), not more than 25 per6 cent may be provided through in-kind contributions. 

7 (e) REPORTS.—Not later than 6 months after the end 

8 of each fiscal year in which grants are awarded by the 

9 Secretary under this section, the Secretary shall submit 

10 a report to Congress that details— 

11 (1) travel-generated expenditures; 

12 (2) travel-generated tax receipts; and 

13 (3) travel-generated employment. 

14 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) LOCAL TOURIST ENTITY.—The term ‘‘local 

16 tourist entity’’ means any public or private sector 

17 business engaged in tourism-related activities. 

18 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of Commerce. 

20 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated, for each of the first 5 fiscal 

22 years beginning after the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act, $10,000,000, which shall be used for grants under 

24 this section and shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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