Brand USA’s Fight for Reauthorization

Posted by Peter Hilliard on August 27th, 2018

Brand USA’s Fight for Reauthorization

Brand USA, a public-private company created in 2009 and reauthorized with bipartisan congressional support for an extension in 2014; its aim, to market the United States as the number one destination to international travelers. Its future, uncertain at best. Despite its recent ROI release with figures showing a $29.00 return on every $1.00 spent and its average supply of 51,000 jobs to Americans annually it could potentially face downsizing, if not extinction.

The publicly contributed funds that support Brand USA are collected from international travelers through the ESTA (electronic system for travel authorization) program, not taxpayers. These funds paid by ESTA into the visa-waiver program by foreign visitors are to be redistributed in the hopes of lowering the USA deficit and secure borders. Although there was direct push back from those in the industry, the United States Government has confirmed through the USA Travel Association the planned elimination of the Brand USA organization.

However, members of the USA Travel Association are convinced this would be detrimental to the number one service industry that generated $8.5 billion for the United States economy in travel trade surplus last year.

Roger Dow, the USA Travel Association president and CEO states:

“Brand USA isn’t funded with a dime of taxpayer money, reduced the deficit by $50 million, and by the OMB’s own accounting eliminating it would put the federal budget further in the red. With international visitation being the country’s No. 2 export supporting 15 million American jobs, we’re struggling to understand how cutting Brand USA squares with this administration’s stated priorities.”

USA Travel Association is urging those in the industry to reach out to law makers and congress to support the reauthorization of Brand USA. To learn more watch How Brand USA Works for America… in 150 seconds or visit www.thebrandusa.com.

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Peter Hilliard

About Peter Hilliard

Peter Hilliard is the Founder, President, and CEO of DataTrax. He began his career as a tour bus operator with a single bus, until he realized that a better solution was needed for automating and tracking ticket sales. Led by Peter’s expertise in the tour industry and ticketing automation technologies, DataTrax has grown over the past 20+ years into an international leader in ticketing solutions.