Sunshine Matters

Today, President Obama provided a progress report on his National Travel and Tourism Strategy and touted the significant role the industry plays in growing the economy and creating jobs.   On behalf of the more than 1.1 million Floridians employed in the state’s tourism industry, I applaud President Obama and his administration for their efforts to support increased international travel to the U.S.

The progress report shows:

• Growth in international visitors has created roughly 175,000 American jobs over the past five years, and meeting President Obama’s goal of 100 million visitors in 2021 will support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs.
• The number of international visitors to the United States has grown from 55 million in 2009 to 70 million in 2013, and each overseas visitor spends on average $4,500 per visit, at American hotels, shops, restaurants, and other domestic businesses.
• The State Department issued 9.2 million visas in 2013, up 42% since 2010. Waiting periods for visas in important markets like Brazil and China have dropped from as high as several months to less than five days on average.
• A combination of measures, such as Automated Passport Control kiosks and Global Entry services, reduced average entry process wait times by nearly 40% over 12 months, and cut in half the number of visitors waiting longer than 30 minutes.

As part of today’s announcement, President Obama outlined his new executive actions to continue to encourage and make it easier for international travelers to come to the United States.  Here are the highlights:

Signing a Presidential Memorandum to Expedite the Entry Process for Travelers, Starting With the 15 Largest Airports: Over the next 120 days, Secretary Pritzker and Secretary Johnson will lead an interagency team, in close partnership with industry, to develop a national goal to improve the entry process and reduce wait times for international travelers to the United States, and action plans at the 15 largest airports for international arrivals, consistent with progress achieved at Dallas Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare airports where, through a combination of streamlining processes and upgrading technologies, wait times were reduced significantly.

Taking Additional Steps to Improve and Streamline the Entry Process: The Department of Homeland Security is expanding the use of technology to streamline the entry process, such as Automated Passport Control kiosks.

Launching New Efforts to Encourage Travelers to Visit the United States: The Departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Transportation and the Interior will take additional steps to encourage travelers to visit the United States, including launching coordinated strategies with Brand USA in ten international markets, creating a “one-stop” that supports international bids for major global events and launching a new “virtual visitor services” platform to increase tourism on public lands and waters.

For more details, please read the Fact Sheet & Report issued by the White House following today’s press event.