Gerald R. Ford photo

Veto of a Bill To Authorize Appropriations for Tourism Programs.

May 28, 1975

To the House of Representatives:

I am returning herewith, without my approval, H.R. 5357, which would authorize appropriations totalling $98,125,000 to the Secretary of Commerce for the promotion of tourist travel.

This bill would reinstitute in the Department of Commerce a domestic tourism program to encourage Americans to travel within the United States. It also would authorize appropriations totalling $90 million for the period July 1, 1976 through September 30, 1979, for continuation and expansion of the current program of the United States Travel Service to promote and facilitate foreign tourism in the United States.

My Administration proposed an extension of the existing tourism program through fiscal year 1979 at an annual authorization level of $15 million to encourage foreign visitors to the United States. It opposed the reinstatement of a domestic tourism program, which would be unnecessary.

The promotion and management of domestic tourism should remain the responsibility of the private sector, especially the accommodation and transportation industries, and of state and local governments. Each of the fifty States has its own tourist promotion agency. I find no justification for the Federal Government taking on this role.

Moreover, the amounts authorized in the bill for the Travel Service's existing program are excessive, almost doubling the adequate amounts proposed by my Administration for the promotion of foreign travel to this country.

I find it necessary, therefore, to withhold my approval from a bill which would create an unnecessary new Federal program and unduly enlarge an existing program.

GERALD. R. FORD

The White House,

May 28, 1975.

Note: The House of Representatives reconsidered H.R. 5357 on June 20, 1975, and the bill was referred to committee.

Gerald R. Ford, Veto of a Bill To Authorize Appropriations for Tourism Programs. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256770

Simple Search of Our Archives