Skift Take
Not having a senior-level tourism official has cost the U.S. travel industry billions of dollars and millions of visitors. This new assistant secretary of travel and tourism will be responsible for making up for those many lost opportunities.
The U.S. travel industry will soon have an official voice at the highest levels of federal policymaking under the newly-created assistant secretary of travel and tourism.
The office was created by the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act, which was included in the massive government funding package passed by Congress on December 23. The U.S. has historically been the only country among the G-20 to not have a cabinet-level tourism office.
It is still unclear when this person will be appointed, especially given that a budget has not been approved that would fund the job.
The idea for the office came out of the 1995 White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, but it was shelved due to the politics of that era. It gained steam again after the pandemic reignited public awareness about the importance of international visitors, why the travel experience matters and the value of the industry, said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
Drive the Travel Industry Toward SuccessSitting inside the U.S. Department of Commerce, the assistant secretary will be responsible for coordinating across the federal agencies to leve