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"Not only is Nevada open for business, but our country is ready to welcome and accommodate global tourists," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose home state of Nevada has suffered heavily from the tourism slump since the global financial meltdown struck in late 2008.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the measure will create 40,000 jobs in its first year and cut the soaring US deficit by more than 400 million dollars, Reid said in a statement.
The bill creates a special fund financed in part by a 10-dollar fee imposed on non-US travelers seeking visa waivers, though the travel industry is expected to start putting up matching cash in 2011.
US travel industry figures show that international visitors spend roughly 4,000 dollars per person during their stay in the United States, generating 1.38 trillion dollars in sales in 2008 and supporting some 8.6 million jobs.
But the international financial meltdown has led many to scale back their travel plans. About 200,000 travel-related US jobs vanished in 2008, and the US Commerce Department estimates that another 247,000 will go in 2009.
Late last week, the European Union ambassador to Washington, John Bruton, condemned the proposed fee-funded tourism campaign and warned the new levee might actually reduce the number of overseas guests.
"Europeans are alarmed at the proposals in Congress to charge them an additional 10 dollars on top of all the other costs and requirements they must meet, just for the privilege of coming to the US to spend their euros here as tourists," he said in a statement.
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The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the measure will create 40,000 jobs in its first year and cut the soaring US deficit by more than 400 million dollars, Reid said in a statement.
The bill creates a special fund financed in part by a 10-dollar fee imposed on non-US travelers seeking visa waivers, though the travel industry is expected to start putting up matching cash in 2011.
US travel industry figures show that international visitors spend roughly 4,000 dollars per person during their stay in the United States, generating 1.38 trillion dollars in sales in 2008 and supporting some 8.6 million jobs.
But the international financial meltdown has led many to scale back their travel plans. About 200,000 travel-related US jobs vanished in 2008, and the US Commerce Department estimates that another 247,000 will go in 2009.
Late last week, the European Union ambassador to Washington, John Bruton, condemned the proposed fee-funded tourism campaign and warned the new levee might actually reduce the number of overseas guests.
"Europeans are alarmed at the proposals in Congress to charge them an additional 10 dollars on top of all the other costs and requirements they must meet, just for the privilege of coming to the US to spend their euros here as tourists," he said in a statement.
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