New Mexico Tourism Department Secretary Michael Cerletti joined travel industry professionals from around New Mexico and across the country at the 2007 Travel Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. September 26-27, 2007 to urge Congressional leaders to pass the Travel Promotion Act that will provide up to $200 million to promote America to travelers from other countries.

“Clearly, the Travel Leadership Summit is another critical step in helping policymakers better understand and appreciate the importance of our industry,” Secretary Cerletti said.

According to the Travel Industry Association of American (TIA), total international business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent in 2004-5, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry’s recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that “the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America’s image abroad.”

International travelers spent more than $90 billion in the United States in 2004, “yet our national budget is abysmal when compared to most other major nations,” Secretary Cerletti said, “and we are the only one without a national tourism office. TIA’s purpose in sponsoring this annual summit and our purpose in being there in support of the legislation is to make sure government officials are aware of how critically important the tourism industry is to New Mexico’s economy.”

The New Mexico delegation, which also included Tourism Department Deputy Secretaries Sharon Maloof and Craig Swagerty; Christopher Stagg and Deidra Lujan (members of the New Mexico Tourism Commission); Sharon Schultz (CEO of the Tourism Association of New Mexico); Lisa Boeke (Director of Marketing for Tourism and Convention Promotion at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and chair of the Region Three Tourism Board); and Jill Lane (chair of the Region Five Tourism Board), met all five members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation.

“We have commitments from most of them that they’d sign on as co-sponsors of the Tourism Promotion Act, which was one of our missions,” Schultz said, “as well discussing some specific issues to New Mexico.”

The Travel Promotion Act now has more than 20 Senate sponsors and more than 50 in the House.