Gloria Guevara Manzo, Saudi Arabia’s chief special advisor to the tourism minister, has announced she’s stepping down.
14.06.2024 - 15:01 / skift.com / Joe Biden / Dawit Habtemariam / Brand / Chris Thompson
The clock is ticking to fill the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism position before its allocated funding becomes unavailable after September 30, the end of the federal government’s 2024 fiscal year.
President Joe Biden would have to nominate someone to the position and the U.S. Senate would have to confirm him or her. Conversations to fill the position are currently “ongoing,” said a U.S. Travel Association spokesperson.
Given its level in the government, there likely won’t be a shortage of candidates who want the job. “Because it’s at a higher level, I think you’ll get a greater amount of interest,” said Chris Thompson, CEO and president of Brand USA, America’s destination marketing organization.
“It’ll be interesting to see what kind of people they’re putting in there and where they come from, what background they bring,” said Thompson.
The federal government has a deputy assistant secretary for travel and tourism and other officials dedicated to supporting the travel and tourism industry, but none that can be as creative with policymaking as the assistant secretary might.
“A lot of the work that gets done is with the career folks, but what you need to actually either bring on new policy or shape policy in different ways is the muscle brought by appointed people that are coming with any given administration,” said Thompson.
Some of the assistant secretary responsibilities include setting annual visitation goals, developing national travel strategies and establishing federal interagency coordination.
While the secretary job sits empty, the music industry has been trying to carve out a new responsibility in the role. On April 30, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the American Music Tourism Act to the Senate to amend the position.
Under proposed legislation, the assistant secretary will have an extra responsibility of implementing a plan to increase domestic and international tourism to music venues.
The legislation has backing from the Colorado Creative Industries of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Recording Industry Association of America, Live Nation Entertainment, the National Independent Venues Association and over ten other music trade groups.
The assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism was created in December 2022 under the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act. The position is the most senior U.S. government official with a job revolving around travel and tourism. It’s one level below being a cabinet secretary and sits within the Department of Commerce.
For over 20 years, the travel industry has been lobbying for higher-level representation in the federal government.
In early
Gloria Guevara Manzo, Saudi Arabia’s chief special advisor to the tourism minister, has announced she’s stepping down.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today unveiled the remarkable growth of Travel & Tourism in France last year, with the sector’s GDP contribution surging by nearly 6% year-on-year to a record-breaking €246BN. According to the global tourism body’s latest research, in 2023, Travel & Tourism soared 4.3% above the previous peak, representing 8.8% of France’s total economic output, signalling a year of significant growth for the sector.
Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett believes the push to reimagine Caribbean Tourism is key to ensuring the resilience of the industry. Speaking at the Council of Ministers during the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Caribbean Week in New York on Tuesday June 18, Minister Bartlett expressed his support for implementing changes that will benefit the region.
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2024 Economic Impact Research (EIR) forecasts Travel & Tourism will contribute more to Australia’s economy in 2024 than any previous year on record.
Tourism in the Middle Eastern country of Oman is improving. The Gulf nation was hit hard by Covid and had long struggled to recoup its tourism sector. But government measures are helping.
In December 2023, the State Department said it had brought passport processing times to their pre-pandemic levels of six to eight weeks. Two moves in the past two weeks could help bring them down further.
UN Tourism has joined its Members in celebrating the establishment of 2027 as the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism. At the Organization’s headquarters in Madrid, the UN Tourism leadership welcomed the Ambassadors to Spain of 24 Member States to look ahead to the seminal year.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), the latest global phenomenon, was a major focus at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Caribbean Week in New York, where a Ministerial forum looked at leveraging AI for tourism development. During the discussions, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett highlighted that this technology will be the new frontier for Caribbean tourism and must be harnessed properly to enable more seamlessness within the industry.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett arrived in New York City to participate in a series of events and activities for the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Caribbean Week celebrations from June 16 to June 21. While in the USA, Minister Bartlett and senior tourism officials will embark on a strong multi-city marketing blitz that will also take them to Chicago and Dallas.
New Zealand is eager to get its tourism sector back to full-throttle after the country was entirely shut during the pandemic. One way to do this is to attract more tourists beyond the popular December to February months.
UN Tourism is organising its first-ever UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Asia and the Pacific from June 26 to 27 in Cebu, the Philippines.
The Ministry of Tourism and its public bodies will be ramping up efforts to boost the capacity of local suppliers in a bid to further strengthen linkages between tourism and other key sectors of the Jamaican economy. This commitment was underscored by Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, during his recent 2024/2025 Sectoral Debate opening presentation in Parliament.