Expanding travel and tourism can and should be a bipartisan priority, and it’s one the U.S. Chamber strongly supports.

Travel and tourism already accounts for $888 billion in revenues and 7.9 million American jobs. It could do so much more for our economy if we did a better job of laying out the welcome mat for international travelers. In fact, if we restored our share of the travel market to its 2000 level we could create more than 450,000 jobs by 2020.

We need to broaden visa waiver programs, limit wait times at customs, and implement trusted traveler programs to reduce the hassles without jeopardizing safety. We need to let the world know we want their business, and that means we need to make travel promotion a priority.

The Chamber is:

• Encouraging Congress and the administration to expand the Visa Waiver Program and address delays, backlogs, and disruptions in our immigration and border management systems that impede the movement of legitimate businesses and tourists traveling across U.S. borders.
• Supporting “trusted traveler” programs to reduce airport screening delays and encourage and expedite travel for those who pass a rigorous background check.
• Ensuring the travel and tourism industry, largely populated by small businesses, is not subject to undue taxes and regulations.
• Urging lawmakers to adequately fund infrastructure to make travel to and within the United States more efficient, quicker, and more hassle-free.