U.S. TOURISM OFFICE WILL CLOSE.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

The U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration will close April 15, making the United States the only industrialized country in the world without a government-run office to promote tourism.

The Washington-based office is closing because Congress refused to allocate $12 million to keep the agency operating until a travel industry-supported organization could be formed to take over the tasks. The switch from a government-funded to an industry-funded tourism office was one of 41 recommendations that resulted from the first White House conference on travel and tourism last October.

"Congress voted only a $2 million appropriation, and that was retroactive to October," spokeswoman Vicki Johnson said. "We're out of money."

The agency's staff of 78 will be pared to 18, with 13 of those remaining assigned to other agencies within the Commerce Department or other federal agencies.

The remaining five staff members will work out of consulates in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan - countries whose citizens are the most frequent U.S. visitors, Johnson said. U.S. travel offices in Italy, France, Australia and Miami, which promotes tourism from South America, will be closed, and their staffs reassigned.

To foreigners seeking information about travel in the United States, the TTA's closing means having to rely solely on travel brochures and guidebooks when planning trips or seeking information.

Industry leaders, through the privately funded Travel Industry Association of America, are working to establish a federal chartered, industry-funded corporation, much like Amtrak, to replace the government tourism office.

Legislation sanctioning such a national tourism office - but appropriating no government funding - is expected to be approved by Congress this summer or fall, said Dexter Koehl, a TIA spokesman.

The legislation would give the TIA a year to devise a permanent method of funding a new national tourism office through donations by TIA members, including airlines, tour operators, hotels and other industry businesses, plus some cities and states, he said.

In the meantime, the TIA - with its staff of 50 and its $10 million annual budget - will try to keep gathering data on foreign travelers' visits to the United States and to keep foreign interest in U.S. travel alive, he said.

"We want to keep the important core programs from disappearing," Koehl said. "The industry wants to bridge the gap somehow."

A March 27 news conference has been scheduled in Washington, D.C., by travel industry leaders to explain the change from a government-funded to an industry-funded agency.

According to TTA, the number of international travelers to the United States rose steadily from about 12.5 million in 1970 to a high of about 47 million in 1993, but with the loss of the TTA, the number of travelers this year is expected to dip to under 45 million.

In 1995, the U.S. spent $15 million on tourism, while Mexico spent $60 million to advertise itself at a tourist destination, and Australia spent $100 million.

Tourism dollars are important to the United States: in 1970, foreign travelers contributed about $2.3 billion to the U.S. economy, which increased to a high of $74 billion in 1993; in 1995-96, the projected total is $65.8 billion, according to the TTA.