STS Congressional Summit has record attendance in 2019
The 2019 STS Congresional Summit on Travel and Tourism took place June 11-12 in Washington, D.C.

The Summit continues to experience strong growth with 92 registered participants this year, up from 81 in 2018. The Federal Tourism Directory, which was released at the Summit, also garnered record high sponsorship.
Ed Hall with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a sponsor of this year's Federal Tourism Directory, unveils the 2019-2021 issue during the STS Congressional Summit Welcome Reception.
Renewing Brand USA
Renewing Brand USA was one of the top topics of discussion at the Congressional Summit on Travel & Tourism. Those conversations are clearly paying off as legislation has been introduced in both chambers of Congress to extend Brand USA’s authorization and funding mechanism through 2027.

2018 International Tourism Figures Released
The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) has released its overview of international visitation to the U.S. in 2018, which found that 79.6 million international visitors spent $255.5 billion generating a trade surplus of $69.3 billion last year.

The overseas visitation reports on top states, top cities, and top regions visited will be released in late summer.
Scenic Byways Reactivation Advances
On June 19, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously voted in support of the Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act , S. 349, which would to reopen the nominations process for the National Scenic Byways Program. The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration. 

At present, there are 7 co-sponsors of the legislation; none are from the Southeast.
 
Demonstrating broad support for the program is essential to getting it scheduled on the Senate floor calendar. STS has posted a campaign on the Voter Voice section of the website to encourage Senators to co-sponsor S. 349, which can be accessed here:  VOTER VOICE
 
Toledo Bend Forest Scenic Byway in Louisiana
Photos courtesy of Louisiana Office of Tourism.
Delcambre is a stop along the Cajun Corridor Byway in Louisiana.
Scenic Byways are an important element of the tourism infrastructure for states and communities across the Southeast.

In fact, all 12 of STS's states have at least one federally designated Scenic Byway or All-American Road. Although, the National Scenic Byways Program has been inactive for six years, it continues to hold strong support with tourism communities and in Congress.

On February 6, the House of Representatives approved the  Reviving America's Byways Act of 2019  (H.R. 831).
ADVOCACY SUCCESS STORY: Mississippi
On May 29, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed into law The Tourism Promotion Act , which creates a permanent funding source for tourism by dedicating 1% of total revenue collected from restaurant and hotel sales tax revenues statewide for tourism marketing beginning in fiscal year 2020. These funds will be used to enhance available tourism advertising dollars at Visit Mississippi (MDA).
 
The funding allocation will increase to 2% in fiscal year 2021 and to 3% in fiscal year 2022. For each year thereafter, the tourism allocation will remain at 3%.

The Tourism Promotion Act also creates a tourism advisory board, comprised of local and regional tourism professionals, to strengthen the industry’s cooperative marketing efforts. The board members will be appointed by the Governor in January 2020 and serve concurrently with the Governor.
 
At the introduction of the legislation, Senate Tourism Committee Chair Lydia Chassaniol noted, “We have long sought a permanent funding solution for tourism advertising that is based on performance. The funding in this bill is simple – the more visitors we are able to bring to Mississippi, the more restaurant and hotel sales tax revenue will be generated to the state, and thus the more money we’ll make available for us to advertise. It’s a great incentive to work smart to bring more people to visit our great state and spend their tourism dollars in Mississippi’s economy,”

The enactment of The Tourism Promotion Act is the culmination of a sustained advocacy effort by the Mississippi Tourism Association, which united all segments of the hospitality industry to ensure the state is able to promote itself in the competitive destination market.