Rep. Loretta Sanchez Issues Statement on Travel Promotion Act

October 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-47) submitted the following statement for the record regarding the Travel Promotion Act. When enacted, the bill will help promote tourism in Orange County by educating foreign visitors about U.S. travel requirements:

"Madame Speaker,

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"I rise in support of S. 1023 the Travel Promotion Act, and the underlying bill, H.R. 1035, the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Amendments Act of 2009.

"The Travel Promotion Act would help establish an independent non-profit corporation that would provide and maintain useful tourist information. Most importantly, this bill will further educate potential tourists abroad about the U.S. entry policies.

"As the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee in charge of all ingress and egress into our country, this bill will play an important role in educating foreign travelers about our border and port of entry procedures and will help clear up misconceptions about traveling to the United States.

"This outreach and expansion will improve research and development activities to promote international travel to the United States at a time when many foreigners are weary of traveling to our country.

"Foreign travelers traditionally stay in a visited region longer and spend more money during their stay than domestic travelers do. This bill will find ways to encourage more foreign travelers to visit the United States.

"As the Representative of the district that includes the happiest place on earth, Disneyland, this bill is crucial to my district.

"In Orange County, the tourist industry alone supports approximately 160,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, in 2008 tourism brought in over 43 million visitors, including 2.5 million foreign visitors, to Orange County, California.

"These visitors generated over 7.9 billion dollars in spending which provided critical support to local businesses and governments.

"I want to thank Representative Delahunt, Senator Dorgan, and the leadership of both the House and Senate for advocating for this legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote for the underlying legislation and pass H.R. 1035.

"Thank you."

Before submitting her statement for the record, Rep. Sanchez entered into a colloquy to ensure that the program will be implemented in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.

Source: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez