'Drive Travel And Tourism To Rural Areas': Gus Bilirakis Urges Commerce Dept Aid To Local Economies

last year

Prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) questioned Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Madam Secretary. Appreciate it very much. I'll begin with

00:06questioning and I'll recognize myself for five minutes. Families are strapped,

00:12Madam Secretary, I think you know this, for cash during this time of inflation

00:17and economic uncertainty. One way they have been able to make ends meet is by

00:22using their home for income as a short-term rental and welcoming

00:27travelers into the area. The gig economy is increasingly benefiting rural areas

00:34which in turn brings new economic streams to these towns and I've seen it

00:39in my district. So the question is what is the department doing to

00:44drive travel and tourism to rural areas and these new forms of income for

00:50families? Yeah, first of all I want to thank you for your leadership on travel and

00:54tourism. You come from a state where it matters, so do I. I was the governor of

00:59Rhode Island, the Ocean State. I'm a huge believer in the economic value of

01:03travel and tourism. We are within our budget implementing the Visit America

01:10Act. We have hired a terrific DAS for travel and tourism and we are within our

01:18budget constraints doing everything we can to work with states including rural

01:23areas to promote travel and tourism. I have a little bit of good news. As you

01:29know, the U.S. is the number one destination for foreign travelers. I

01:34wanted to report to you that the National Travel and Tourism Strategy had

01:39a goal of having 90 million international visitors to the U.S. by

01:442027. We think we're going to beat that goal. We think we'll have that done by

01:492026. To your point, I chair the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. We have

01:56representatives from rural America. We're constantly listening to those

01:59stakeholders to figure out, you know, what more can we do. All of that being said, I'd

02:04be happy to follow up with you if you have ideas on what we could do more of

02:08because I agree with you. Rural America is beautiful and if we can get travelers

02:12to go experience it, we should. Thank you. I appreciate it. The National Travel and

02:19Tourism Strategy lays out, as you said, the five-year goal of increasing American

02:24jobs by attracting and welcoming 90 million visitors and you say we're going

02:29to reach it by 2026, which we appreciate so much. So, you estimate that

02:38we'll spend about $279 billion by 2027. Can you speak to progress on reaching

02:45this goal? And you did. Maybe you want to elaborate a little bit. Are there

02:49specific areas you're seeking to prioritize? Yes. So, let me say this. I

02:58know you're a leader in the Visit America Act and I strongly support

03:03having an assistant secretary. Most other countries do and I think we should too. I

03:08know money doesn't solve every problem, but we are severely budget constrained

03:13in this respect. I'm implementing it, but without the funds to hire an assistant

03:18secretary and the office and the tools to do that, it's very hard to do that.

03:22Last year we took a two million dollar cut and this year, you know, if we have

03:28the House Appropriations Committee proposed cut of another 9% for ITA, it'll

03:34just make this work that much harder. So, I do want to put a marker down on that

03:39for all of you who care about travel and tourism. One of the things that we have

03:44done is really engage with this Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. I have

03:50personally met with them on numerous occasions. What I try to do is listen to

03:53them, right? Like, what do you need? What can we do? We did a lot,

03:58for example, in COVID helping the cruises to get people cruising again. We've done

04:04a lot in coastal communities to help them with workforce. You know, you can't

04:07operate your restaurant or hotel if you can't find the workers. So, usually my

04:11approach is listen to the people in the business of travel and tourism and ask

04:16them, how can we help you? And we try to meet their needs so they can do more

04:21business and hire more people. Very good. Again, can you specifically, if you can

04:28make any recommendations with regard to the gig economy in rural areas? Because

04:35you know, we've got a lot of beautiful areas, hidden treasures, as you know,

04:39throughout the United States. Any specific recommendations you can make

04:45with regard to that? Permit me to come back to you on that or maybe we could

04:49have a discussion about it. You know, with the rise of Uber and Airbnb and etc.,

04:56you're exactly right that that's who is increasingly in that economy. I think it's

05:01important that they have high quality, decent jobs. But let me follow up with

05:06you on that. Okay, very good. You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and yell back and

05:12recognize...

'Drive Travel And Tourism To Rural Areas': Gus Bilirakis Urges Commerce Dept Aid To Local Economies

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