Visit America Act
This bill implements measures to support the U.S. travel and tourism industry and to address the declining percentage of international visitors to the United States.
Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Commerce to develop a 10-year travel and tourism strategy with the goal of achieving, by 2028, 116 million annual international visitors to the United States and $445 billion in travel exports.
The bill also establishes the role of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, whose responsibilities shall include (1) setting an annual goal for the number of international visitors to the United States, (2) providing support for improved visitor visa processing, and (3) promoting travel exports abroad.
Further, the assistant secretary must develop and implement a COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic recovery strategy to assist the recovery of the U.S. travel and tourism industry from travel restrictions necessitated by the pandemic.
The bill also provides statutory authority for the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, which shall aid the assistant secretary in developing and implementing the COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategy.