US aims to ramp up international tourism hit hard by COVID

The US Commerce Department on Monday will unveil a new strategy aimed at boosting international tourism hit hard by COVID-19 and government travel restrictions by streamlining the entry process and promoting more diverse destinations. The "National Travel and Tourism Strategy" sets a goal of 90m international visitors by 2027 who will spend an estimated $279b annually, topping pre-pandemic levels, the department told Reuters. "There are a lot of industries that are well past COVID - travel and tourism is not," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. The federal government must do more to support the resurgence of travel and tourism to ensure the industry rebuilds to be "more resilient, sustainable and equitable," according to the draft strategy document. In 2019, the United States had 79.4m international visitors, a figure that plummeted to 19.2m in 2020 as the pandemic hit and rose to just 22.1m in 2021. International visitors spent $239.4b in 2019, but just $81b in 2019, the Commerce Department said. Before COVID, tourism supported 9.5m US jobs and generated $1.9t in economic output. One of the strategy's goals is to modernize entry procedures for visitors to enter and travel within the US. "We need to streamline the entry process," Raimondo said. "It's cumbersome and very paper-based and we want to move to a more digital process."<br/>