Sec. 5. Responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism
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The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism (referred to in this section as the Assistant Secretary ), appointed pursuant to section 2(d) of the Reorganization Plan Numbered 3 of 1979, as amended by section 4, shall— establish an annual goal for— the number of international visitors to the United States; and travel exports; develop recommendations for achieving the visitation goals established pursuant to paragraph (1); ensure coordination between— the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor for policy development and recommendations for utilizing: the National Travel and Tourism Office;
Brand USA; the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; the Task Force on Travel and Tourism established by Executive Order 13597 of January 19, 2012; and travel industry partners, including public and private destination marketing organizations and travel and tourism suppliers; establish short, medium, and long-term timelines for implementing the recommendations developed pursuant to paragraph (2); and conduct Federal agency needs assessments to identify the resources, statutory or regulatory changes, and private sector engagement needed to achieve the annual visitation goals.
The Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall— provide support for improving visitor visa processing with respect to— the maximum time for processing visas, by visitation type; regulatory and policy changes needed to meet the visa processing goals referred to in subparagraph (A), including changes regarding technology, processing centers, and training; and streamlining visa applications and adjudications, including application design and data collection procedures; and explore opportunities to establish pilot programs to integrate technology into the visitor visa adjudication process, including video conferencing and biometrics.
The Assistant Secretary shall— conduct a study to better understand domestic policy options for supporting competitiveness with respect to the strengths, weaknesses, and growth of the domestic travel industry; develop recommendations and goals to support domestic tourism, separated by business and leisure; and engage public and private stakeholders to support domestic tourism. The Assistant Secretary— in coordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall provide timely and reliable workforce data regarding workforce and labor market needs; shall work to improve tourism industry data collection by the Bureau of Economic Analysis; and shall provide recommendations for policy enhancements and streamlining.
The Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, shall work to promote and facilitate travel exports abroad and ensure competitiveness by— participating in and organizing meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions; emphasizing rural and other destinations rich in cultural heritage or ecological tourism, among other uniquely American destinations; and promoting sports and recreation events and activities.
The Assistant Secretary shall investigate and provide recommendations regarding utilizing and expanding existing security programs to better meet the needs of the United States travel and tourism industry, including— the Visa Waiver Program authorized under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1187 ); preclearance operations; the Trusted Traveler Program; the biometric entry-exit control system required under section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104–208 ; 8 U.S.C. 1221 note); and the establishment of a system to provide increased resilience to travel during pandemics.
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and travel industry partners, shall develop and implement a COVID–19 pandemic recovery strategy to assist in the United States travel and tourism industry to quickly recover from the travel restrictions necessitated by the pandemic. After assisting in the implementation of the strategy developed pursuant to paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the entities referred to in such paragraph, shall develop additional recovery strategies 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, or pandemics.
The Assistant Secretary shall produce an annual forecasting report on the travel and tourism industry, which shall include current and anticipated— domestic employment needs; international inbound volume and spending, taking into account the lasting effects of the COVID–19 pandemic and the impact of the recovery strategy implemented pursuant to subsection (g)(1); and domestic volume and spending, including Federal and State public land travel and tourism data. The Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis should update the Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts quarterly, including— State level travel and tourism export data; travel and tourism workforce data for full-time and part-time employment; and Federal and State public lands visitation and spending data.
The Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office shall— report international arrival and spending data on a regular monthly schedule; and shall include questions in the Survey of International Air Travelers regarding wait-times, visits to public lands, and State data, to the extent applicable.
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- Pub. L. 104-208
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Sec. 5
Responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism
Pub. L.Pub. L. 104-208
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