page_title: European Travel Commission
section_title: 1950s–1960s: Joint Publicity Campaigns in the United States, Facilitating Travel
hierarchical_section_title: European Travel Commission / History / 1950s–1960s: Joint Publicity Campaigns in the United States, Facilitating Travel
caption_attribution_description: English: President John F. Kennedy prepares to sign the S-610 Act, establishing the United States Travel Service within the Department of Commerce. (L-R) Unidentified man, Kennedy family friend Kirk LeMoyne “Lem” Billings, unidentified man, Congressman Robert W. Hemphill (South Carolina), unidentified man, Congressman Peter F. Mack (Illinois), Congressman Milton W. Glenn (New Jersey), Congressman John B. Bennett (Michigan), Congressman Oren Harris (Arkansas), President Kennedy, unidentified man (in back), Senator Warren G. Magnuson (Washington), Chairman of the European Travel Commission Manolita T. Doelger, Senator John O. Pastore (Rhode Island), and Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges (in back). Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [description from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston]
context_page_description: The European Travel Commission is an association of National Tourism Organisations based in Brussels. It was created in 1948 to promote Europe as a tourist destination to long-haul markets outside of Europe, originally the US and later Canada, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. ETC currently has 33 member NTOs and 14 associate members from the private industry. The association aims to raise awareness of the importance of tourism among national European authorities and the general public through sharing best practices and cooperation in market intelligence and promotion.
context_section_description: Under OEEC oversight, joint publicity campaigns in the US turned into the flagship activity of ETC. The first campaign took place from August to December 1949. The campaigns promoted Europe as one destination in the American market and encouraged off-season travel. The campaigns were realised by the ETC's New York Committee working closely with marketing firms (e.g. Donald N. Martin & Company, Inc.) and private partners in the transportation, travel, and energy industries. Additionally, ETC participated in travel fairs; published brochures and calendars of events; produced radio broadcasts, television advertising, and short films; and published advertisements in newspapers and magazines.  
  In May 1954, an ETC delegation met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  ETC praised Eisenhower for his strong support for international travel by Americans in the interest of rebuilding the European economies.  However, concerns in the American administration over the deficit in the country's balance of payments prompted the Kennedy administration to create the United States Travel Service in June 1961 to motivate foreign nationals to visit the US. At around the same time the reorganisation of the OEEC into the OECD ended its involvement in the publicity campaigns, which continued under the aegis of ETC alone from 1964. ETC continued to defend the freedom to travel when President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1968 State of the Union address asked Americans to reduce non-essential travel.  In response ETC published a Declaration on the Freedom to Travel in February 1968 that identified the freedom to travel as a fundamental human right, to be enjoyed without restriction or discrimination.
  ETC also sought to facilitate travel and border crossings through abolishing visa requirements to travel to Europe and between European countries and by alleviating currency regulations, travel taxes, and customs formalities. By the mid-1950s, North American and Western European tourists could travel through Western Europe without major administrative formalities.   Following the 1963 United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism, ETC pushed for discussions on the recommendations of the conference to remove obstacles (visas, customs rules, border-crossing requirements) and streamline tourism regulations, implementing those regulations within the IUOTO and the OECD Tourism Committee.
caption: President Kennedy signs the Act establishing the United States Travel Service, 29 Jun 1961 in the presence of Manolita Doelger, chairwoman of ETC New York (third from the right)
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