Brand USA Faces Extinction Under Trump’s Proposed Budget
Photo Credit: Brand USA faces elimination under President Trump's proposed budget. Pictured are Choose Chicago staff and international journalists on a Brand USA fam tour. Choose Chicago / Choose Chicago
Skift Take
Congress will play around with Trump's budget and nothing is set in stone. But Brand USA's proposed demise shouldn't come as a surprise from a president who has spent much of his first four months in office imposing anti-tourism policies.
Brand USA is the United States travel industry's latest potential victim of President Donald Trump's four-month term as the national tourism marketing organization's funding faces elimination under the president's fiscal 2018 budget.
The U.S. Travel Association confirmed via email Monday night that the budget calls for the elimination of the organization, which was approved by Congress through the Travel Promotion Act and signed into law in 2010 and began operations in 2011. The revenue of the national destination marketing organization would be made available to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection organization, according to the budget document [see full text below].
Congress voted in 2014 to reauthorize Brand USA's funding through 2020 and the organization has traditionally had bipartisan support. Many U.S. travel brands also lobbied the federal government for years to create such an organization to boost international travel marketing.
"It’s especially perplexing that t
