Newly-Appointed Travel and Tourism Advisory Board Outlines Priority Issues

Contact: Cory Churches
Phone: 202-482-3809

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Monday met with the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (Board) to discuss its 2010-2011 priorities. Key themes for this Board include travel facilitation, research, marketing, outreach and coordination, and advocacy.

“Our objective of doubling exports in five years as outlined by President Obama’s National Export Initiative will rely on a strong travel and tourism industry,” said Locke. “The travel and tourism industry is profoundly important to the U.S. economy and job creation, as it accounts for 24 percent of U.S. services exports and eight percent of all U.S. exports.”

Travel and tourism is a $1.3 trillion sector of the U.S. economy or nearly three percent of Gross Domestic Product, supporting 8.2 million U.S. jobs.

Critical to the nation’s overall economic health, the travel and tourism industry is one of the top employers for more than half of the U.S. states and territories. The industry is seeing signs of growth as the U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that 3.4 million international visitors traveled to the United States in January 2010, an increase of 10 percent from January 2009. January 2010 also marked the fourth straight month of increases in U.S. arrivals. International visitors spent $10.3 billion in January 2010, three percent less than in January 2009.

The Board consists of 29 business leaders from the travel and tourism industry who are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to advise him on industry-related matters and provide policy recommendations.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) improves the global business environment and helps U.S. companies and workers compete at home and abroad.

The membership roster and meetings information for the Board are available on http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/TTAB/TTAB_Home.html.