Obama signs Bill to Create U.S. Tourism Board

A national tourism board to promote international travel to the United States is a provision of a bill President Barack Obama signed into law Thursday.

As part of its duties, the board will coordinate advertising and other marketing efforts to encourage foreign travelers to visit the United States, The Washington Post reported.

The measure is aimed at reversing a decade long drop of nearly 10 percent in foreign visitors to the United States, officials said.

Supporters said the new law could help attract 1.6 million new international visitors, $4 billion in new spending and more than $300 million in tax revenue each year, the Post said.

The bill enjoyed bipartisan support as it moved through Congress and a bipartisan group of lawmakers attended the signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

Critics of the bill, including some Republicans and some airline industry representatives, say that the slump in foreign tourism is not a public relations issue, but rather a result of strict immigration rules that subject visitors to unwelcoming, and even humiliating procedures.

Souirce: NY Times