Word: tpa
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Health care legislation may be garnering most of the headlines these days, but it's far from the only bill circulating on Capitol Hill. Another new piece of legislation quietly making its way to President Obama's desk is the Travel Promotion Act (TPA) - it has already been approved by the Senate and is now in front of the House - which would establish the country's first official nonprofit tourism board...
Washington-watchers expect the TPA to pass the Senate by the end of the year. Once enacted, it will create two new entities - the Office of Travel Promotion and the Corporation for Travel Promotion - to help foreign visitors actually get into the country. The offices will serve as resources for both individual travelers and the travel industry, explaining visa regulations and entry requirements, offering destination data and sponsoring marketing campaigns. Most importantly, by promoting the entire nation - rather than a specific airline or destination - TPA supporters say the bill could entice up to 1.6 million additional tourists to visit America...
...TPA would have a budget of up to $200 million, funded by contributions from the private sector (hotels and airlines, for instance) and a new $10 fee that would be paid by any entering foreign visitor who does not require an entry visa. The latter element has proven controversial - especially to the mostly European travelers who would have to contend with those extra costs. Ambassador John Bruton, head of the European Commission delegation to the United States, called the potential levy "discriminatory" in a September statement, and warned that it could become "a step backward in our joint endeavor toward...
Although the fee will likely be "hidden" within airfares, Harteveldt is concerned that it could ultimately work against TPA initiatives and "come back to haunt us." But Senator Dorgan counters that $10 is far lower than similar fees - ranging from Ireland's $14 entry tax to the U.K.'s whopping $100 - paid by Americans when they travel abroad. And with a mere 35 countries that would be required to pay the fee, fewer than 30% of foreign travelers will be affected...
Outside the compulsively groomed resort areas, garbage grows in small piles on the side of streets on the island's growing urban areas, festering in the tropical sun. Much of what is collected finds its way to the TPA Suwung landfill, about 10 km outside the sprawling provincial capital of Denpasar. Every day trucks add up to 800 metric tons of waste to quivering piles of tattered cloth, leftover food and the ubiquitous plastic water bottles. Virtually the only waste management at Suwung comes in the form of scavengers who brave the heat to comb through the mountains of trash...