Travel Promotion Act 2009 - Section 2.e.1 Duties And Powers
September 23, 2009 – 9:32 amLooking at the act more closely, we can see in section 2.e.1.A that one of the primary duties of the Non Profit Corporation is to:
Provide useful information to foreign tourists, business people, students, scholars, scientists, and others interested in traveling to the United States, including the distribution of material provided by the Federal government concerning entry requirements, required documentation, fees, processes, and information concerning declared public health emergencies, to prospective travelers, travel agents, tour operators, meeting planners, foreign governments, travel media and other international stakeholders;
Phew, one concept comes to mind immediately when i read the above. “Trickle Down unfunded mandates”. Travel agents, Meeting Planners, Tour Operators, and Cruise Lines perform the actual monetary transaction between themselves and the retail public. If there are “required fees” then is the entity that takes the money from the retail customer responsible for also collecting / submitting the “required fees”.
Who determines the required fees? It is understood that there is a proposed 10.00 fee on Visas which is collected during the Visa application process. However, does this corporation have the right to implement additional fees that travel agents, cruise lines, tour operators, etc must collect from foreign travellers….ie random value added taxes/fees?
This certainly warrants further discussion because we all know the additional cost and time associated with airline debit memos and other issues.
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