Latest News

Shaky economy notwithstanding, Americans intend to travel farther and spend more in 2012, according to a nationwide poll. Long-haul bookings to Europe, Asia and Australia are up in 2012, comprising 11 of the top 20 destinations for U.S. travelers, compared to nine in 2011, the survey of 640travel agents showed. Over 90 percent said their clients will spend the same or more on travel in 2012. The top two international destinations for 2012, based on actual bookings, remain Caribbean cruises and Cancun, Mexico, as they were in the 2011 survey. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong, China, missing from the top 20 in 2011, made the list in 2012, and Sydney, Australia, ranked 19th last year just missed making the top 15. (Source: MSNBC, 12/30)

The US: it’s a big place, and there’s a lot of ground for travelers to cover. So what’s buzzing for travelers in the coming year? It’s an annual tradition at Lonely Planet to try to answer that question, so the editors in our US office put their travel-noggins together to carve out a list of what’s new, interesting, and in some cases likely to be overlooked by travelers both domestic and international. Here are our 10 top picks that should be on your travel radar in 2012:

1. US Virgin Islands
2. Hudson River Valley, New York
3. Cincinnati, Ohio
4. Four Corners Region, Southwest USA
5. Culebra, Puerto Rico
6. California Gold Country
7. Boulder, Colorado
8. Hawai’i: The Big Island
9. Chicago
10. Yellowstone National Park

(Source: Lonely Planet, 12/20)

The White House, Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release, January 19, 2012

This morning, President Obama will sign an Executive Order and announce new initiatives to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States. The U.S. tourism and travel industry is a substantial component of U.S. GDP and employment, representing 2.7% of GDP and 7.5 million jobs in 2010 – with international travel to the United States supporting 1.2 million jobs alone. The travel and tourism industry projects that more than 1 million American jobs could be created over the next decade if the U.S. increased its share of the international travel market. Today’s announcement offers important steps to bolster job creation through a range of steps to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and improve secure visa processing. This is the most recent of a series of executive actions the President has announced to put Americans back to work and strengthen the U.S. economy.

“Every year, tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America. And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. We need to help businesses all across the country grow and create jobs; compete and win. That’s how we’re going to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try,” said President Obama.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international travel resulted in $134 billion in U.S. exports in 2010 and is the nation’s largest service export industry, with 7% of total exports and 24% of service exports. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that every additional 65 international visitors to the United States can generate enough exports to support an additional travel and tourism-related job. According to the travel industry and Bureau of Economic Analysis, international travel is particularly important as overseas or “long-haul” travelers spend on average $4,000 on each visit.

Today’s announcement calls for a national strategy to make the United States the world’s top travel and tourism destination, as part of a comprehensive effort to spur job creation. The number of travelers from emerging economies with growing middle classes – such as China, Brazil, and India – is projected to grow by 135%, 274%, and 50% respectively by 2016 when compared to 2010.  Nationals from these three countries contributed approximately $15 billion dollars and thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy in 2010.  In addition, Chinese and Brazilian tourists currently spend more than $6,000 and $5,000 respectively each, per trip, according to the Department of Commerce. The Department of State has made tremendous progress in processing non-immigrant visas from these key markets, allowing them to issue more than 7.5 million visas in the last fiscal year, a 17% increase from the previous fiscal year. In the 2011 fiscal year, consular officers adjudicated more than a million visa applications in China and more than 800,000 in Brazil, representing 34 % growth in China and 42% growth in Brazil. Improving visa processing capacity for China and Brazil is particularly important because of this growth.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

Today’s Executive Order charges several agencies to take part in efforts to increase travel and tourism in the United States:

• The Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior will be charged with:
  • Co-leading an interagency task force to develop recommendations for a National Travel & Tourism Strategy to promote domestic and international travel opportunities throughout the United States, thereby expanding job creation. This Task Force will coordinate with the Corporation for Travel Promotion (currently doing business as BrandUSA), a non-profit corporation established by Congress through the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 to promote travel to the United States, and the Tourism Policy Council to ensure private sector participation and cross-agency coordination.
  • A particular focus of the Task Force will be on strategies for increasing tourism and recreation jobs by promoting visits to our national treasures. The Department of the Interior manages iconic destinations in our national parks, wildlife refuges, cultural and historic sites, monuments and other public lands that attract travelers from around the country and the globe. In 2010, more than 400 million visits were made by American and international travelers to these lands, contributing nearly $50 billion in economic activity and 400,000 jobs. Eco-tourism and outdoor recreation also have an outsize impact on rural economies, particularly in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
• The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security will be charged with:
  • Increasing non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40% in 2012.
  • Ensuring that 80% of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of application.
  • Increasing efforts to expand the Visa Waiver Program and travel by nationals eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, and expanding reciprocal trusted travel programs for expedited travel (such as the Global Entry program).
• The Department of Commerce will be charged with:
  • Establishing and maintaining a publicly available website with key information and statistics from across the Federal Government to assist industry and travelers in understanding visa processes in key travel and tourism markets, and entry times into the United States.

Additional initiatives announced today include:

• New Pilot Program and Rule Change for Visa Processing in China and Brazil:
  • Today, the Departments of State and Homeland Security announced a pilot program to simplify and speed up the non-immigrant visa process for certain applicants, including the ability to waive interviews for some very low-risk applicants, such as individuals from any country renewing non-immigrant visas, or, in Brazil, younger or older first-time applicants. Link to fact sheet HERE for more information.
• Final Rule to Expand and Make the Global Entry Program Permanent:
  • Global Entry is a program within the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection that was created as a pilot in 2008 to facilitate expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. Through a final rule, the Administration will expand and make the Global Entry program permanent. Due in part to innovative public-private partnerships, the Global Entry program now has more than 246,000 members, more than one million trusted travelers have Global Entry benefits, and efforts are underway to expand enrollment even further. There are currently 131 Global Entry kiosks at 20 airports and since launching, members have used Global Entry kiosks over 1.7 million times, saving CBP officers over 36,450 inspection hours—staff hours that CBP has then re-allocated to expedite regular passenger queues. This final rule will allow the program to be expanded to an additional 4 airports in Minneapolis, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix, making the Global Entry program and expedited clearance available in airports that service approximately 97% of international travelers.
• Appoint new members to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board:
  • A new membership of 32 private sector CEOs have been appointed by Commerce Secretary Bryson to serve on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will build upon the work undertaken by the past Board addressing travel facilitation, visa policy, improving the international travel entry experience, aviation security, energy security, crisis communications and research and data, among other issues. This Board consists of corporate executives across the nation, representing all aspects of the travel and tourism industry, who are appointed to a two-year term to advise the Secretary of Commerce on policies affecting the travel and tourism industry. See the full list of new membersHERE.
• Nomination of Taiwan to Visa Waiver Program:
  • Currently, more than 60% of international tourists do not require a U.S. visa, in most cases because they travel under the Visa Waiver Program.  The Secretary of State has formally requested that the Secretary of Homeland Security consider Taiwan for the Visa Waiver Program. Over the past year, Taiwan has undertaken significant efforts to improve its law enforcement and document security standards to meet the strict requirements for Visa Waiver Program eligibility. Under the Visa Waiver Program, participating nationals can travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. The program was established to promote travel and tourism with our foreign partners, stimulate the tourism industry, and permit the Department of State to focus consular resources in other areas. Since November 2008, the Department of Homeland Security has added nine countries to the Visa Waiver Program, bringing the program total to 36 countries.

(HELENA) – The Montana Department of Commerce Office of Tourism (MTOT) is launching its inaugural tourism and brand workshop, entitled “Coming Together to Expand Montana’s Tourism Story,” in the Bitterroot Valley on Friday, February 3, 2012.

This free workshop is being hosted by MTOT in collaboration with the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce, Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission and the Ravalli County Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID). The workshop is an outreach effort to assist businesses in the Bitterroot Valley in bolstering their ability to attract and retain visitors to their area.With tourism being one of Montana’s leading industries and a key economic driver for the state, MTOT views the workshop as an opportunity to help businesses attract some of the 10.5 million visitors that travel to Montana each year. These non-resident visitors bring new money into Montana’s economy spending $2.5 billion annually during their stay.

“In Ravalli County alone, non-resident visitors spent nearly $12 million in 2010*,” said Jeri Duran, Administrator for the Montana Office of Tourism. “We want to invite all our partners in the Bitterroot Valley to attend this workshop in an effort to help them capture even more tourism business moving forward.”The workshop will be held at the Bitterroot River Inn Conference Center in Hamilton from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There is no cost to attend, however for planning purposes, interested participants are requested to pre-register for the workshop. Please RSVP to Carmen Levick at MTOT at (406) 841-2873 or atbit.ly/BitterrootRegistration.

The workshop will include an overview of MTOT’s efforts in supporting and promoting tourism both statewide and in the Bitterroot Valley, as well as a brainstorming session to discuss how the area can draw more visitors annually.

In addition, MTOT will be holding random drawings at the workshop. For every 20 attendees, the state will be giving away one complimentary registration to the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation to be held April 11-13 in Great Falls (includes lodging). Also, one business in attendance will be randomly chosen to receive partnership marketing support valued at $500. Additional details will be shared at the workshop.

The Chamber is delighted that the Bitterroot Valley has been chosen by the Montana Office of Tourism for the kickoff session of their statewide tourism and brand workshop” said Richard O’Brien, Executive Director of the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce. “This is well deserved recognition for the work done by so many in raising awareness of the Bitterroot Valley and the importance of tourism and recreation to our valley, the Glacier Country region and our state. Such recognition will inspire our newly formed Tourist Business Improvement District and assist those who are involved in tourism throughout our valley. We hope that you will join with us for this exciting venue.”Prior to the workshop, a social media team, comprised of a combination of individuals from MTOT, Glacier Country and MercuryCSC, will spend a few days traveling the valley, gathering information about attractions, activities, restaurants, and the like, to highlight on Montana’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/visitmontana) and Twitter (twitter.com/visitmontana) pages. Findings will be shared with participants during the brainstorming session of the workshop as well.

MTOT would like to thank the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce, Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission and the Ravalli County TBID for their assistance with this workshop.* Source: Institute for Tourism & Recreation Research, www.itrr.umt.edu