Travel and Tourism Act

To require the Secretary of Commerce to identify the resources, regulatory changes, and private sector engagement needed to achieve annual travel and tourism goals, including a travel and tourism recovery strategy from COVID–19, and to prepare a strategy to address potential future pandemics, and for other purposes. 1. Short title; table of contents (a) Short title This Act may be cited as the Travel and Tourism Act (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Responsibilities of the Secretary of Commerce. Sec. 3. Travel and tourism strategy. Sec. 4. United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Sec. 5. Data on domestic travel and tourism. Sec. 6. Defined term. 2. Responsibilities of the Secretary of Commerce (a) Visitation goals The Secretary of Commerce shall— (1) establish an annual goal, consistent with the goals of the travel and tourism strategy developed pursuant to section 3(1), for— (A) the number of international visitors to the United States; and (B) the value of travel and tourism commerce; (2) develop recommendations for achieving the annual goals established pursuant to paragraph (1); (3) ensure that travel and tourism policy is developed in consultation with— (A) the Tourism Policy Council; (C) the National Travel and Tourism Office; (D) Brand USA; (E) the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; and (F) travel industry partners, including public and private destination marketing organizations, travel and tourism suppliers, and gig economy representatives from these industries; (4) establish short, medium, and long-term timelines for implementing the recommendations developed pursuant to paragraph (2); (5) conduct Federal agency needs assessments, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, to identify the resources, statutory or regulatory changes, and private sector engagement needed to achieve the annual commerce goals; and (6) provide assessments and recommendations to— (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; (B) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and (C) the public through a publicly accessible website. (b) Domestic travel and tourism The Secretary, to the extent feasible, shall— (1) develop recommendations and goals to support and enhance domestic tourism, separated by business and leisure; and (2) engage public and private stakeholders to support domestic tourism. (c) Workforce The Secretary shall— (1) consult with the Secretary of Labor to develop strategies and best practices for improving the timeliness and reliability of travel and tourism workforce data; (2) consult with the Secretary of Labor and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to improve travel and tourism industry data; (3) provide recommendations for policy enhancements and efficiencies; and (4) provide recommendations for policy to support and grow the gig economy as it relates to travel and tourism. (d) Recovery strategy (1) Initial recovery strategy Not later than 1 year after amounts are appropriated to accomplish the purposes of this section, the Secretary, in consultation with public and private stakeholders identified in subsection (a)(3) and public health officials, shall develop and implement a COVID–19 public health emergency recovery strategy to assist the United States travel and tourism industry to quickly recover from the pandemic. (2) Future recovery strategies After assisting in the implementation of the strategy developed pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary, in consultation with appropriate public and private stakeholders, shall develop additional recovery strategies, including but not limited to a public-private partnership, for the travel and tourism industry in anticipation of other unforeseen catastrophic events that would significantly affect the travel and tourism industry, such as hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, terrorist attacks, and pandemics. (3) Cost-benefit analysis In developing the COVID–19 public health emergency recovery strategy under paragraph (1) and additional recovery strategies for the travel and tourism industry under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall conduct cost-benefit analyses that take into account the health and economic effects of public health mitigation measures on the travel and tourism industry. (e) Reporting requirements (1) Forecasting report The Secretary shall produce an annual forecasting report on the travel and tourism industry, to the extent feasible, which shall include current and anticipated international inbound volume and spending, taking into account the lasting effects of the COVID–19 public health emergency and the impact of the recovery strategy implemented pursuant to subsection (d)(1). (2) Bureau of economic analysis The Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis should annually update, to the extent feasible, the Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts, including State level travel and tourism spending data. (3) National travel and tourism office The Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office— (A) in partnership with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, shall report international arrival and spending data on a regular monthly schedule, which shall be made available to the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and to the public through a publicly available website; and (B) shall include questions in the Survey of International Air Travelers regarding wait-times, visits to public lands, and State data, to the extent applicable. 3. Travel and tourism strategy Not less frequently than once every 10 years, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, and the Tourism Policy Council, shall develop and submit to Congress a 10-year travel and tourism strategy, which shall include— (1) the establishment of goals with respect to the number of annual international visitors to the United States and the annual value of travel and tourism commerce during such 10-year period; (2) the resources needed to achieve the goals established pursuant to paragraph (1); and (3) recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes that would be necessary to achieve such goals. 4. United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board Section 3 of the Act entitled An Act to encourage travel in the United States, and for other purposes 15 U.S.C. 1546 (1) by amending the section heading to read as follows: United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; advisory committee (2) by striking The Secretary of Commerce is authorized (a) United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (1) In general There is established the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (referred to in this subsection as the Board (2) Executive director The Assistant Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development shall serve as the Executive Director of the Board. (3) Executive secretariat The Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office of the International Trade Administration shall serve as the Executive Secretariat for the Board. (4) Functions The Board’s Charter shall specify that the Board will— (A) serve as the advisory body to the Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to the travel and tourism industry in the United States; (B) advise the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect the United States travel and tourism industry; (C) offer counsel on current and emerging issues; (D) provide a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to problems related to the travel and tourism industry; and (E) provide advice regarding the domestic travel and tourism industry as an economic engine. (b) Advisory committee for promotion of tourist travel The Secretary of Commerce is authorized . 5. Data on domestic travel and tourism The Secretary of Commerce, subject to the availability of appropriations, shall collect and make public aggregate data on domestic travel and tourism trends by individuals traveling between points within the United States. 6. Defined term In this Act, the term COVID–19 public health emergency (1) means the public health emergency first declared on January 31, 2020, by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 247d (2) includes any renewal of such declaration pursuant to such section 319.

Summary: Travel and Tourism Act This bill implements measures to support the U.S. travel and tourism industry. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Commerce to develop a 10-year travel and tourism strategy with annual goals for the number of international visitors to the United States and for travel and tourism commerce. Further, Commerce must develop and implement a COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategy to assist the recovery of the U.S. travel and tourism industry. The bill also provides statutory authority for the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, which shall advise Commerce on matters relating to the travel and tourism industry.