The United States government has confirmed plans to create a chief travel and tourism officer at the department of transportation.

The new role, created as part of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act passed last week, will be designed to help co-ordinate travel and tourism policy across all modes of transportation.

According to details of the new $1.75 trillion legislation, the officer will be tasked with collaborating with the department’s) assistant secretary for aviation on all matters involving the government agency.

One of the primary functions of the new travel and tourism position is to develop an infrastructure program to provide recommendations for investments geared toward reviving domestic and international travel.

The legislation calls for the plan to be completed within six months of the bill becoming law.

Julia Simpson, WTTC chief executive, welcome the news.

She said: “Since the pandemic brought travel almost to a standstill in 2020, the sector’s contribution to the United States GDP dropped by 41 per cent, showing just how critical travel and tourism is to the economy.

“While our recent projections indicate that United States tourism could experience year-over-year growth of $425 billion during 2022 and create more than 2.7 million more jobs, this new position will bring sharp focus on travel and tourism infrastructure and will be an advocate for projects to rebuild tourism and create much needed jobs.”

She added: “WTTC looks forward to offering our ongoing support for initiatives designed to further expand the United States tourism sector.”