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Tourism

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Says Tourism and Trump's America First Policy Can Co-Exist

Dan Peltier

Photo Credit: Wilbur Ross, pictured here on March 30 speaking at another event, spoke about the Trump Administration's commitment to tourism promotion on Monday, June 5 at IPW in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia Commons / United States Patent and Trademark Office

Skift Take

Ross' speech seemed too good to be true after what we've seen from the Trump administration. It has yet to take a single step to make travel to the U.S. easier or more hospitable. Talk is always cheap, but in this administration it's worth less than that, so far.

"Let me be clear -- America is open for business, America is open for travel and open to the millions of international visitors who wish us well," said United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Monday at The U.S. Travel Association's IPW conference in Washington, D.C. Ross painted a warm and supportive picture of the Trump Administration's views on the travel industry and tourism promotion even as it has tried to impose policies, such as a travel ban, that have been called anti-tourism. And last week, President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget called for the elimination of Brand USA, the country's tourism marketing arm, which would gut funding for international tourism promotion at the federal level. But Ross perhaps gave one of the Trump Administration's most encouraging speeches on tourism to date in front of one of the largest annual gatherings of the U.S. travel industry and international partners. Even the word bridge, for

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