Skift Take
History matters, and context matters, especially when it comes to understanding why U.S. lost out on the global tourism front, and what policies (or lack of them) led to it. A speech that could have been seminal would be a good place to start understanding this.
On October 30th 1995, President Bill Clinton gave a speech at the White House that should have been the seminal defining moment for the travel industry in America, cementing the rise of U.S. as the pre-eminent destination, once and for all.
This was the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, the first ever event in U.S. history that was meant to elevate travel business and the business of promoting America as a destination to the federal level. The White House invited 1,700 leaders of the travel sector in U.S. for this conference, to unveil the new national tourism strategy.
This was supposed to be the start of opening up of America to tourists globally, making it easier for them to come to U.S., and building up a global marketing machine that promoted the country and its various attractions to visitors worldwide. Atlanta's Olympic Games were scheduled for the following year, and that would have been the perfect platform to promote U.S. tourism on a global scale.
One line from Rep. James Oberstar, introducing President Clinton before his speech, encapsulated the hopes of this day, and the event: "This is the day tourism wins respect as a pillar of our national economy."
Alas, it wasn't to be. The recommendations of Clinton's speech and the strategy developed in the conference that followed got caught up in the partisan bickering, and any plans of creating an apex organization responsible for tourism promotion, part funded by the government and part funded by the industry, never materialized. Mostly, it was the rise of Newt Gingrich and his brand of small-government conservatism that ensured any new federal spending -- much less on what was looked upon as a non-serious industry -- wouldn't ever happen. All plans were shelved by the Clinton administration shortly after.
Not only did that kill any hopes for a new national tourism strategy, it also meant that U.S. essentially killed the existing 35-year old tourism department that was part of Department of Commerce. In 1996 the U.S. also withdrew from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), citing budget pressures.
Sep 11, 2001 and the security frenzy that followed ensured that travel and tourism in the country plummeted to lows unseen in decades, and the industry never fully recovered from the effect of policies that came after.
After 1995, it took another 17 years before another President spoke about the travel and tourism as an industry that deserved a lot more serious attent
