Sec. 105. 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 104, shall— establish an annual goal, consistent with the goals of the travel and tourism strategy developed pursuant to section 106(1), for— the number of international visitors to the United States; and the value of travel exports; develop recommendations for achieving the annual goals established pursuant to paragraph (1); ensure that travel and tourism policy is developed in consultation with— the Tourism Policy Council; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the National Travel and Tourism Office;
Brand USA; the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; and travel industry partners, including public and private destination marketing organizations, travel and tourism suppliers, and labor representatives from these industries; establish short, medium, and long-term timelines for implementing the recommendations developed pursuant to paragraph (2); conduct Federal agency needs assessments to identify the resources, statutory or regulatory changes, and private sector engagement needed to achieve the annual visitation goals; and provide assessments and recommendations to— the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate ; the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives ; and the public through a publicly accessible website.
The Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall— explore strategies 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— evaluate, on an ongoing basis, 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 and enhance domestic tourism, separated by business and leisure; and engage public and private stakeholders to support domestic tourism. The Assistant Secretary shall— consult with the Secretary of Labor to develop strategies and best practices for improving the timeliness and reliability of travel and tourism workforce data; work with the Secretary of Labor and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to improve travel and tourism industry data; and provide recommendations for policy enhancements and streamlining.
The Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and the Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, shall work to promote and facilitate travel exports abroad and ensure competitiveness by— promoting 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, which shall be hosted in the United States.
The Assistant Secretary shall investigate and provide recommendations to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate , the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate , the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate , the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives , the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives , and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives regarding initiating, utilizing, or 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 1 year after amounts are appropriated to accomplish the purposes of this section, the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and other representatives of the travel industry, 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. 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, terrorist attacks, and 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 public health emergency 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 annually update the Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts, including— State level travel and tourism spending data; travel and tourism workforce data for full-time and part-time employment; and Federal and State public lands spending data.
The Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office— 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 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. 105
Responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism
Pub. L.Pub. L. 104-208
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