Why travel needs to have a bigger seat at the table in U.S. immigration debate
Photo Credit: Flickr.com / J Aaron Farr
Skift Take
Making it easier to travel U.S. is tied to the visa regime and border security, which in turn is heavily influenced by immigration reforms. Also U.S. travel orgs need more manpower to help grow them, and in turn grow jobs all around. All of this should be on the table in immigration reform debates.
As the immigration reform debate is in full swing in U.S. Congress, all relevant parties are making sure their voices get heard. As part of that, tourism, a big stakeholder with thousands of jobs at stake tied to easing of the immigration and visa policies, has so far had a smaller voice at the table.
Megan Smith, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, gave her testimony earlier this week, and made the case why the lawmakers should consider the economic value of travel and tourism as part of these reforms and work on making it easier for tourists to come to U.S. We have reprinted her full testimony below.
On behalf of the U.S. and Vermont travel and tourism industry, I welcome the opportunity to provide testimony on how immigration reform can spur economic growth by providing needed reforms and resources that will expand foreign travel to the U.S. We congratulate the “Gang of 8” for including a number of significant provisions in the “Borde
