Tourism administration in the USA
Abstract The attitudes of US federal level administration to tourism in the USA over the past 20 years are discussed in relation to the background and signing into law of the 1981 National Tourism Policy Act, the first major piece of US tourism federal legislation since the 1961 International Travel Act. Focus is on the interplay between the Administration, Legislature and the private sector which led to the development of the Act. After a period of uncertainty the Act appeared to reaffirm federal support for tourism by raising it to Under Secretary level responsibility in the Department of Commerce and by establishing a new agency, the US Travel and Tourism Administration. However, since then the Administration has appeared to back-pedal by authorizing only a small budget and low staffing levels at the USTTA.
The Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus and US national tourism policy
Abstract The author describes the methods and findings of a study undertaken to examine the US Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus (TTC) and its relationship to US national tourism policy. US tourism policy is located within its economic and political contexts, and the major tourism and travel issues raised in the 96th Congress are analysed. From examination of Congress Members' voting records and findings from questionnaires to TTC members and industry representatives, the influence of the TTC and its role in the legislative process are assessed. The history of US tourism legislation and the current political climate are emphasised.
The Functions of Informal Groups in Legislative Institutions
SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE LONG RECOGNIZED the value of the two approaches combined in the analysis reported in this paper-namely, functional analysis and the study of informal groups. Political scientists, however, have been slow to apply them systematically in their investigations of political institutions and behavior. Neither has as yet achieved a permanent place in the methodolgy of our discipline. For this latter reason, it will be worthwhile to examine briefly the meaning of these concepts before presenting the substantive analysis. The relationship of political scientists to functional analysis is roughly that of M. Jourdain to prose; not fully conscious of his methodology, the analyst fails to use it systematically and thus fails to take full advantage of its potential. A quick review of the literature of political science would reveal many references to the functions of political behavior patterns and institutions, but self conscious systematic uses of the concept and approach would be hard to find. Moreover, owing to our traditional emphasis upon legalconstitutional and prescriptive analysis, many investigations have been limited to either the constitutionally prescribed functions' or functional prescriptions based upon the authors' values. Though both of these may be legitimate enterprises, they do not fully exploit functional analysis and without supplementation may lead to incomplete understanding and therefore superficial evaluation.2