Washington: Looking for an edge in the global war for tourism dollars, US President Barack Obama has signed into law moves to attract more overseas travellers.
Obama signed the act "which establishes a corporation for travel promotion to encourage international travel to the United States," the White House said in a statement on Thursday.
The effort is to be funded through a matching program featuring up to USD 100 million in private sector contributions and a USD 10 on foreign travellers who do not pay for a visa, with no money from US taxpayers.
Supporters of the law highlighted a forecast by the impartial Congressional Budget Office that it would create some 40,000 US jobs -- and cut the ballooning US deficit by some USD 425 million.
The US Travel Association industry group estimates that a 10-year drop in US tourism -- much of it after the September 11, 2001 attacks -- has cost some 440,000 jobs and a half-trillion dollars in related spending.
The average overseas visitor to the United States is estimated to spend about USD 4,000, and 1.8 million fewer of them came in 2009 than in 2008, according to the group's analysis of US Commerce Department figures.
Backers of the measure say rival tourist destinations like France and Italy have national advertising campaigns, and that the United States -- where such efforts are typically the work of cities or states -- needs one as well.
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 05, 2010, 09:27