They want you, and your fee

Uncle Sam is getting an expensive megaphone to tell the world's tourists, "I want you".

Aiming to reverse a steep drop in international visitors since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the US Congress last week passed legislation creating a non-profit corporation to promote the United States as a travel destination.

A new $US10 ($NZ14.37) fee for many foreign visitors will help finance the new corporation and could raise up to $US200 million a year.

Among the legislation's goals is to better explain the stricter US entry requirements for foreign visitors since the attacks.

Those policies are cited as the main reason foreign travel to the United States is down 9% since 2000, although it is up 39% worldwide during the same period, according to the US Travel Association, an industry trade group.

A study by consulting firm Oxford Economics said the legislation, which President Obama is expected to sign, would attract 1.6 million additional foreign visitors annually, pumping $4 billion into the economy each year and creating about 40,000 new US jobs.

The legislation imposes a $US10 fee on visitors from 35 European and Asian countries who do not need visas to enter the United States.

The fee, which a traveller would pay once every two years, would produce up to $US100 million a year to match money and in-kind contributions, such as advertising, raised by the travel industry.