Tourism works for America -- and Allegheny County

Travel is obviously big business, but are you aware that it's one of the few industries in which the United States has a trade surplus?

Last year, American travelers spent $82 billion overseas, while foreign visitors pumped more than $94 billion into our economy. That's a $12 billion bulge in our favor, but it's only the tip of the economic iceberg.

The travel industry employs some 16.9 million Americans, producing annual payrolls in excess of $147 billion. Travel is also the nation's third-largest retail industry, after auto dealers and food stores. Last year, tourism generated some $82.6 billion in taxes for federal, state and local governments. Without that revenue, each U.S. household would have to come up with an extra $806 in taxes each year to keep the wheels of government turning.

Yet, despite this enormous financial impact, travel is often under-valued by economists and ignored by politicians, except perhaps as a source of tax dollars.

The United States, for example, is the world's only major nation with no national tourism office. Greece, a much smaller country, spends a thousand times more than the United States to promote itself abroad. Tourism clearly can be a positive financial influence, but much more can be done to develop its potential, both nationally and locally.

This week is the 17th annual National Tourism Week, and Wednesday is designated as National Tourist Appreciation Day. Under the theme "Tourism works for America," both events are designed to put into perspective the impact travel has on our economy.

Authorized by Congress in 1983, the activities are sponsored by the Travel Industry Association of America, whose 2,300 members include travel and travel-related businesses, as well as local, regional and state promotional agencies.

This also happens to be Pennsylvania Tourism Week, organized and sponsored by the Pennsylvania Travel Council. Travel ranks as the state's second-largest industry. Total direct spending in the state by domestic and international visitors totaled $20.08 billion, up 4.5 percent from the previous year.

The "Pittsburgh region," defined as the area including Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Lawrence and Washington counties, also saw a 6.5 percent increase in visitor spending in 1998, the last year for which comprehensive numbers are available. Traveler spending grew from $2.6 billion in 1997 to $2.77 billion in 1998, and total tourism employment rose from 36,030 in 1997 to 37,390 in 1998.

Locally, Allegheny County now ranks first among the state's 67 counties in terms of local spending by tourists and tourism-related jobs. In 1998, visitors spent some $2.17 billion here and created more than 29,000 front-line tourism jobs. The statistics show that on an average day, 10,885 leisure and business travelers stay overnight in Pittsburgh and meeting and convention delegates spend $1,361,175 a day.

But sustaining this development and growth requires continued and active support, both from politicians and the public. Thus, this multi-pronged outreach effort.

During the week, tourism representatives in Washington will lobby Congress on the industry's behalf. In Harrisburg, representatives of city and regional convention and visitors bureaus will gather to educate legislators and stage a Pennsylvania Tourism Fair at the State Capitol.

Public information is another direction, as local travel promotion organizations around the state have planned activities to highlight the strengths of their area.

For example, nine tourist organizations across the state's northern third have banded together into the Pennsylvania Route 6 Tourist Association to promote the scenic and historic charms of what National Geographic has called "one of America's most scenic drives." A handy fold-out brochure has been printed detailing points of interest along the route as it wends its way across the state. For a copy, call 87-PAROUTE 6 (1-877-276-8836) or visit www.paroute6.com). In addition, the Allegheny National Forest Vacation Bureau has produced a half-hour MTV-style television show, "Take 6 -- Route 6," which will air on various channels during the week.

Locally, representatives of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau will be stationed at the Kirby Welcome Center on I-70 near the West Virginia border tomorrow and on Tuesday at the Zelienople Center on I-79, near the turnpike. All week the bureau will be handing out special "Getaway Packages" to random, lucky visitors who stop at its information centers on Liberty Avenue, Station Square and the landside terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Clearly, much effort and investment has already been directed at developing Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania as a destination that can draw visitors from near, far and very far. The airport, two new stadiums, an expanded convention center and hotel construction projects are all predicated on an increasing number of visitors here.

In addition to bike paths and bricks and mortar developments, the area still needs to develop a comprehensive tourist infrastructure, the full array of facilities, services and suppliers specifically designed to satisfy the needs of visitors, from travel agencies geared to assist incoming travelers to more regularly scheduled, individually accessible tours of city neighborhoods.

But even if we build it, will they come?

We also need some good, old-fashioned "buzz," especially in light of the negative perceptions of Pittsburgh that have been nationally and internationally projected by the two recent shooting rampages. It's one thing for so many strangers to still view us as a smoky, steel city and quite another as a community where murderous, racially motivated hatred is simmering just beneath the surface.

One strategy is to aggressively increase our positive promotional efforts in other markets, both regionally and, as much as possible, around the globe. Another is to appreciate the many advantages and attractions we already have, something many visitors to the area already do.

All this, however, is predicated on area residents understanding the important role that travel plays in our economy. That's the primary purpose of National Tourism Week.

Perhaps, if we believe it, they will come.