OP-ED: California Shatters Tourism Records With the Help of Brand USA

By Joseph Laughon

California, the most visited state in America, continues to shatter tourism records. The latest numbers show that tourism spending in our state reached over $140 billion, marking a staggering 5 percent increase from 2017 and supporting over 1 million jobs in the travel sector. The Golden State, known for its sunny shores, has—rightly—become the number one travel destination in America.

And it’s not without good reason: the California experience, expressed in famous movies and popular songs, is unrivaled. In fact, you can visit nearly every state without ever leaving California: we have snow-capped mountains like Colorado, golden deserts like Arizona, beautiful beaches like the outer banks of North Carolina, and bustling cities like New York. Tourists, in other words, get a 4-in-1 deal. We drew over 217 million people to our state in 2018—more than double the number of people that visited New York in that same year.

Some may say that it is easy to charm tourists when we’re lucky enough to have scenic parks and beaches. That’s part of it, but it doesn’t paint a complete picture. California, the fifthlargest economy in the world, can be its own country, so we’re not only competing with other states for tourism dollars, but also other countries. In order to have a competitive edge, and spur international travel to our local communities, 37 tourism and visitor bureaus in California have partnered with Brand USA, the country’s first travel marketing organization, to reach prospective international tourists.

Congress established Brand USA in 2009. The travel marketing organization promotes U.S. cities, large and small, to international tourists across the globe. Brand USA creates videos, promotional material, and guides that highlight America’s landmarks and showcases our local spots in several different languages to people in Europe, Asia, and South America.

The increase in California’s tourism over the years can partly be contributed to the organization’s worldwide marketing campaigns thatfeatured our state on BBC television shows and in the pages of The Telegraph. Brand USA has been helpful to smaller California cities that are overshadowed by big cities like Los Angeles. Oceanside, a relatively small city hidden in San Diego County, raked in $351 million last year with help from Brand USA.

At the same time, Santa Cruz, a city larger than Oceanside, but still smaller than Los Angeles, saw $1 billion in tourism spending, thanks in large part to its partnership with Brand USA,which created videos and promotional marketing campaigns that captured the city’s cool spirit and natural beauty, highlighting its Redwood trees and beaches.

Nationwide, Brand USA hasmade a nearly $50 billion impact on the U.S. economy in just the past six years, supporting 52,000 jobs annually. You may be thinking that Brand USA must cost us a fortune to operate. Here’s a surprise: it’s free. Rather than being funded by taxpayers, Brand USA is funded through contributions from its 700 partnering organizations and a fee it collects from international tourists through the Visa Waiver Program. But, unless Congress takes action to reauthorize the bill that created Brand USA, the public-partnership will expire.

I hope House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will protect California jobs that depend on tourism by supporting legislation that would reauthorize Brand USA. With their help, we can continue to create more jobs, shatter tourism records, and—most of all—remain the nation’s top destination.

Joseph Laughon is a former journalist and political commentator.