WASHINGTON The National Restaurant Association called President Obama's signing of the Travel Promotion Act on Thursday a "major victory for the restaurant and hospitality industries."
The TPA was designed to increase international travel to the United States by creating a national tourism board to manage advertising and other promotional initiatives.
It is estimated that the number of foreign visitors coming to the United States has declined by about 10 percent over the past decade.
"According to research just released by Oxford Economics, this decade-long decline in international travelers has cost the United States in excess of 440,000 jobs in all regions of the country that could have been created and sustained," said Scott DeFife, the NRA's executive vice president for policy and government affairs.
Proponents maintain the TPA will help generate $4 billion in new spending each year.
The effort will be funded by private sector contributions matched by a $10 fee on international visitors coming from countries that do not need a visa to enter the United States.
"Restaurateurs depend on travelers, with some segments of the industry attributing as much as 40 percent of annual sales to visitors," DeFife said. "The Travel Promotion Act will encourage more international travel and is expected to boost restaurant industry sales, which will spur job growth and help grow the economy."
Contact Paul Frumkin at [email protected].
