TI News: An information service from Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI)

February 1, 2007

COMMERCE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES $3.9 MILLION TO INCREASE
AWARENESS FOR AMERICA’S TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY

Washington – At a meeting of the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez announced a $3.9 million cooperative agreement to the Travel Industry Association (TIA) to develop a destination Web site for the United States. TIA will create and market multi-language consumer-focused Web sites that will encourage leisure travel to the United States from a broad range of important markets. TIA will be responsible for research, development, implementation and marketing of this new site.

The objective of the agreement is to create destination awareness, positive perception, and intent to travel to the United States from five identified markets: Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. These markets represent the largest originating countries for inbound international travelers to the United States.

“This cooperative agreement will be valuable to the U.S. travel and tourism industry, which has experienced a steady increase in visitation since 2004,” said Services Deputy Assistant Secretary Ana Guevara. “Encouraging more travel to the United States is important to the industry and to the nation's economy. Our efforts help to support, strengthen, and expand one of America’s healthiest industries.”

“As the organization that represents the interests of the entire U.S. travel industry, we’re uniquely positioned to create world class Web sites that will provide relevant and meaningful information for travelers from key markets throughout the world,” said Roger Dow, President and Chief Executive Officer of TIA. “We are grateful for the confidence shown in our organization by everyone at the Department of Commerce.”

TIA Background - TIA is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel and tourism industry. TIA’s mission is to represent the entire U.S. travel and tourism industry to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. The organization is comprised of over 2,100 members from every segment of the industry.