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Week of May 06, 2004 |
Diaz: US should create Cabinet-level tourism post
By Susan Stabley The US should add a Cabinet-level post for arts, culture and tourism, says Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. He pointed to expenditures by European countries to promote travel and tourism but said that on the federal level, few US dollars are committed. "So many other countries have a minister of tourism or a secretary of culture," he said Thursday while touring the reconstructed Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden on Watson Island. While he said he's not sure how such a post would play with the current administration, the need to give attention to arts, culture and tourism exists now more than ever. Mayor Diaz is promoting the idea with the US Conference of Mayors, for which he is chairman of the Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee. His proposal has not been endorsed by the conference. Mayor Diaz said he will continue his push with a talk in Washington, DC, before the mayors group on securing the future of travel and tourism and during the 72nd annual meeting of the organization in June in Boston. In February, Mayor Diaz suggested to the committee an economic forum in Miami addressing the impact to cities and the national economy. The effects on the industry and the local economy of the 9/11 terrorist attacks underscored the importance of tourism as an economic engine, he said. Even after the attacks, domestic and international travelers pumped more than $545.5 billion into the US travel industry in 2002, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, creating nearly 7.2 million jobs and a payroll of almost $157 billion. Those numbers reflect money spent on food, entertainment, hotels and transportation as well as airfare on US airlines. The Travel Industry Association of America reports that about one in 18 US residents in the civilian labor force was employed due to direct travel spending in the US in 2002. With film and television production work moving out of the country, US cities are losing employment opportunities, it said. And, according to a study touted by the mayors conference, the nonprofit arts industry nationally generates $134 billion in economic activity annually and more than $13 billion in tax revenues. Mayor Diaz said he wants to begin by "raising the level of consciousness" on the issue and by enlisting the business and arts communities. |
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