King cosponsors bill to bolster tourism industry, seasonal businesses
Photo / Renee Cordes
The busy season has begun for ice cream kiosks like this Gorgeous Gelato stand at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is cosponsoring a bipartisan bill designed to bolster the country's travel and tourism industry, including the large number of seasonal businesses based in Maine.
The recently introduced Visit America Act would formally authorize the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and create an assistant secretary position within the U.S. Commerce Department focused specifically on tourism. That's a position that already exists in all other Group of 20 large economies.
Under the bill, which is expected to be wrapped into a larger COVID or economic legislative package in coming months, the assistant secretary would be tasked with coordinating a strategy across multiple federal agencies by establishing annual goals and recommendations.
The legislation would also require the development and implementation of a recovery strategy to assist the travel and tourism industry to better recover from the COVID–19 pandemic.
“Each year, millions of visitors flock to Vacationland for a taste of 'the way life should be,' as families are just a day’s drive or a quick flight away from sites that deliver lifelong memories without straining household budgets,” King said in a news release.
He also noted that to support the tourism industry and the broader economic recovery, "we need to redouble our work to boost this vital part of our national economy. This legislation will unite a variety of government efforts under one federal office and one leader, strengthening our efforts to help the tourism industry grow and thrive.”
Getting 'back on solid ground'
HospitalityMaine, the Augusta-based nonprofit trade association, welcomed the bill's introduction.
“The industry fought for many years to get the U.S. Department of Commerce to create and promote 'Brand USA.' Prior to that, marketing of the United States was limited to mostly private efforts," Greg Dugal, the organization's government affairs officer, said in a statement emailed to Mainebiz on Thursday.
"The bill Sen. King is sponsoring will go a long way to reengage that promotion, somewhat diminished by the pandemic, and give the largest industry in the world its due within the Commerce Department. A recovery strategy is welcome and very much needed for international travel to the U.S.”
Kathleen Pierce, director of member experience for HospitalityMaine, added, "This positive news underscores the massive recovery effort that restaurant and hotel operators require for long-term survival ... As we emerge from a painful pandemic, such initiatives will help get the industry back on solid ground."
The other cosponsors of the Visit America Act bill are U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
King has been a vocal champion of giving more federal support to seasonal small businesses, and is also the lead sponsor of the Restore Our Parks Act legislation, which was signed into law last year to address the maintenance backlog at national parks.
That law will directly support more than 40,000 jobs and indirectly support more than 100,000 jobs over the next five years, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based National Park Service.
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