Strategy Announced is Based on Provision from Rosen-Led Travel and Tourism Legislative Package to Help Get the Industry Back on Track in Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion, applauded news that the U.S. Department of Commerce has released a new National Travel and Tourism Strategy that focuses federal government efforts on supporting the travel and tourism industry and sets a five-year goal of attracting 90 million international visitors to the United States each year. This is in line with a key provision from Senator Rosen’s bipartisan Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act, which would restore the nation’s travel and tourism industry, in part by requiring a national strategy like the one announced by Commerce today. Commerce Secretary Raimondo recently expressed her support for the legislative package, which would also create a new Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism at the Department of Commerce and advance key reforms to encourage more travel to and throughout the U.S.
“Over the past two years, the travel and tourism industry was hit especially hard in Nevada, and restoring this critical area of our economy to its full potential has been a top priority,” said Senator Rosen. “I am thrilled that the Commerce Department is enacting a key provision of my bipartisan legislative package to ensure we have a comprehensive national strategy to reenergize America’s travel and tourism industry.”
Senator Rosen has been a leader in fighting to get the travel and tourism industry back to its full potential as a way to get Nevada’s economy back on its feet. Tourism is one of Nevada’s key industries and employs nearly 350,000 Nevadans. Although Nevada’s economy is recovering and experiencing strong growth, the state unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the country. In the Las Vegas area, visitor volume is still down 4.5% and hotel room occupancy is down 7.0% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Nationwide, unemployment in the leisure and hospitality industry, covering the bulk of tourism businesses and workers, is nearly twice the national average.
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