The White House announced the creation of a National Strategy to increase travel to and within the U.S. The strategy includes increasing tourism industry-related jobs by attracting 100 million international visitors annually by the end of 2021—a 50 percent increase over this year’s expectations.

“These international visitors would spend an estimated $250 billion per year, creating jobs and spurring economic growth in communities across the country,” the White House press release cites. See the full release here.

MTCVB applauds these efforts to increase tourism nationally as we continue to partner with local and regional elected officials to increase the positive impacts of tourism in Tucson and Southern Arizona. Tourism contributes $2.6 billion annually in direct travel spending to our region. (AOT/Dean Runyan Associates 2010) Learn more about how tourism impacts our local economy.

The Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau invites you to celebrate National Travel & Tourism Week—here’s the scoop:

Beginning Monday, May 7, listen-to-win on K-HIT 107.5 and KIIM 99.5 for our ‘Did You Know’ tourism spots with over $1500 in local tourism prizes!

On May 10, join tourism colleagues at the historic Hotel Congress for a special “Meet & See” featuring downtown businesses, food and hotel tours (easy access and plenty of parking). And on May 24 learn about the burgeoning Canadian visitor market from staff of the Arizona Office of Tourism, the Canada-Arizona Business Coalition and MTCVB.

See the list of prizes, and event registration information here.