American Music Tourism Act of 2025
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Would require the National Travel and Tourism Office to identify and promote U.S. music festivals, concert venues, and other music-related destinations for both domestic and international visitors, while also expanding the agency's mandate to cover international travel to sports and recreation events.
The bill also adds a biennial congressional reporting requirement covering the agency's progress on all its domestic and international travel promotion goals.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend the Visit America Act to direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism — through the National Travel and Tourism Office — to identify locations and events important to music tourism and to promote domestic and international travel to them. It would add music tourism promotion as an explicit statutory duty alongside the office's existing responsibilities for cultural heritage and ecological tourism. The bill also expands the office's existing international travel mandate to include sports and recreation events, and defines "music tourism" to cover both visits to music-related attractions (museums, studios, and venues) and attendance at festivals, concerts, and live performances.
The bill would not create a new agency or grant program, and it would not appropriate any funds. Implementation would depend on the office directing existing resources and staff toward the new promotional responsibilities, with progress assessed through required reports to Congress.
Key provisions
- 1Would direct the Assistant Secretary to identify U.S. music tourism locations and events and facilitate and promote domestic travel to them.
- 2Would expand the international travel facilitation mandate to include promoting international tourism to U.S. music tourism locations and events.
- 3Would expand the existing sports facilitation mandate to explicitly cover promoting international travel to sports and recreation events in the United States.
- 4Would require a report to Congress on activities and findings within one year of enactment and every two years after.
- 5Would add a statutory definition of 'music tourism' covering visits to music-related attractions and attendance at live music events.
Who would be affected
The National Travel and Tourism Office and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, who would be assigned new promotional duties. Indirectly, music venues, music festivals, concert promoters, museums, recording studios, and tourism-dependent businesses in music-rich destinations — particularly in states like Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana — stand to benefit from increased federal promotional attention.
Why it matters
If enacted, music-oriented destinations that currently receive little federal tourism promotion could gain visibility in both domestic and international marketing efforts. The biennial reporting requirement would give Congress a regular window into whether the office is following through, providing a measure of accountability beyond the statutory mandate itself.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Visit America Act (15 U.S.C. 9803) (Sec. 2(a)-(b))
Adds music tourism promotion to the domestic travel mandate and expands the international travel mandate to include music tourism and sports and recreation events.
Amends Visit America Act (15 U.S.C. 9803(f)) (Sec. 2(c))
Adds a biennial congressional reporting requirement on activities and findings related to all domestic and international travel promotion goals.
Amends Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, title VI of division BB (15 U.S.C. 9801) (Sec. 2(d))
Adds a statutory definition of 'music tourism' covering visits to music-related attractions and attendance at live music events.
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- First congressional report on domestic and international travel promotion activities due
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates that S. 195 would have no significant net effect on the federal budget, as its costs would likely be absorbed within existing appropriations for the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism.
S. 195 would require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism to promote music tourism in the United States and report periodically to Congress. CBO found that implementing the bill's requirements would likely be carried out using funds already appropriated — in 2024, the Assistant Secretary received $3.5 million to fulfill similar duties under the 2022 Visit America Act. CBO did not identify any significant new direct spending, revenue effects, or intergovernmental or private-sector mandates associated with the bill.
How implementation would work
The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism would integrate music tourism promotion into the office's existing domestic and international tourism activities — identifying qualifying locations and events and incorporating them into outreach campaigns. No rulemaking is required. Within one year of enactment, the Assistant Secretary must submit a report to the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee covering activities, findings, achievements, and vulnerabilities related to all domestic and international travel goals; that report recurs every two years thereafter.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Held at the desk.
Official CRS summary
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This bill directs the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) of the Department of Commerce to promote tourism to music-related and sports attractions.
The bill requires NTTO to promote domestic and international travel and tourism to U.S. music festivals, concert venues, and other music-related attractions and locations. The bill also expands NTTO's current mandate to facilitate sports and recreation events and activities to include the promotion of international travel and tourism to such activities in the United States.
NTTO must report its activities and findings to Congress within one year after the bill's enactment and, thereafter, every two years.
Legislative subjects
Arts, Culture, Religion; Congressional oversight; Museums, exhibitions, cultural centers; Music; Performing arts; Travel and tourism
Committee report
S. Rept. 119-4