Skift Take
Making it easier to travel U.S. is tied to the visa regime and border security, which in turn is heavily influenced by immigration reforms. Also U.S. travel orgs need more manpower to help grow them, and in turn grow jobs all around. All of this should be on the table in immigration reform debates.
As the immigration reform debate is in full swing in U.S. Congress, all relevant parties are making sure their voices get heard. As part of that, tourism, a big stakeholder with thousands of jobs at stake tied to easing of the immigration and visa policies, has so far had a smaller voice at the table.
Megan Smith, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, gave her testimony earlier this week, and made the case why the lawmakers should consider the economic value of travel and tourism as part of these reforms and work on making it easier for tourists to come to U.S. We have reprinted her full testimony below.
On behalf of the U.S. and Vermont travel and tourism industry, I welcome the opportunity to provide testimony on how immigration reform can spur economic growth by providing needed reforms and resources that will expand foreign travel to the U.S. We congratulate the “Gang of 8” for including a number of significant provisions in the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” and more broadly recognizing that facilitating legal travel must be an integral part of immigration reform.
As our economy recovers from the Great Recession, travel is leading the way:
In 2012 international visitors added nearly $130 billion to the U.S. Economy and generated more than $19 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.
One in eight Americans is employed by the travel industry, and international visitors support more than one million U.S. Jobs.
Every 33 additional overseas visitors – i.e. international visitors other than those from Canada and Mexico – create one American job.
Overseas visitors to the US spend an average of nearly $4500 per visit.
Inbound international travel to the U.S. is America’s number one service export.
Vermont is very dependent on Tourism. Our percentage of jobs in the industry is twice the national average (38%) while our visitors spent $1.7 billion in 2011 generating $233 million in tax revenue. The majority of our businesses are small and family-owned, and Agritourism is growing at a very high rate. We are starting to see a steady increase of international visitors and it is a market that we are focusing on much more with the support of Brand USA. While we benefit from being a weekend getaway for millions of travelers, in order for our small businesses to flourish, we need to attract more international travelers who stay longer (on averag
