Congress OKs $50M to promote tourism

www.sun-sentinel.com By Tom Stieghorst Business Writer Posted February 15 2003 Congress has approved $50 million to jump-start travel from overseas, which has been declining since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The money, in the appropriations bill passed this week, will be divided among the 50 states according to what they spent on overseas marketing last year. Florida attracts more foreign visitors than any state other than California and could get between 10 percent and 20 percent of the money, said a spokesman for Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, who was a primary sponsor of the bill. "Florida's largest industry is hemorrhaging, and this may bring us one step closer to the cure," said Foley in a statement. Funds could flow as soon as President Bush signs the bill, said Foley spokesman Chris Paulitz. "This could be turned around relatively rapidly," he said. Travel to the United States will likely decline further if the United States goes to war in the Middle East. Already European visitors are favoring vacations that don't require overseas flights. Latin American travel to South Florida has been curtailed by economic problems in countries from Argentina to Venezuela. "There is nothing we need more than U.S. marketing presence in the international marketplace," said Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. She said foreign visitors to Broward County are off 10 to 15 percent in the past 18 months. "Our Canadian business is holding steady. It's the other international, the Europeans certainly and also the South Americans," that are not coming in previous numbers, she said. In 2000, about 24 percent of Broward visitors were international. They tend to stay longer and spend more than domestic visitors, experts say. Florida attracted 6 million international visitors in 2000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, which ranks California first with 6.4 million visitors, and New York third with 5.9 million. No other state has more than 3 million. Those figures exclude Canadian and Mexican travelers. The bill passed by Congress only included half of the $100 million Foley had sought and is limited to overseas marketing. Foley had sought to let states use the money to market to out-of-state tourists within the United States. Tom Stieghorst can be reached at tstieghorst@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5008.