§2124 Tourism Policy Council

Summary

Creates a Tourism Policy Council to make sure the United States’ national interest in tourism is part of federal decision making. The Council is chaired by the Secretary of Commerce and includes the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Secretaries of State, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation, the Commissioners of the U.S. Customs Service and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, the President of the United States National Tourism Organization, and other agency representatives the chair invites. Members do not get extra pay. The Council must meet first not later than 6 months after October 11, 1996, and then at least twice a year. The Council must coordinate federal policies and programs on international travel, tourism, recreation, and national heritage. The chair can ask federal agencies for staff, information, services, or facilities as allowed by law and within available funds, and agencies may detail staff without loss of pay or status. The chair may hold closed meetings to protect non-public information. Each year the Council must send a report to the President for Congress by December 31 describing its work, coordination results, problems referred and actions taken, and any recommendations. The President of the United States National Tourism Organization being on the Council does not by itself make chapter 10 of title 5 apply.