The American Music Tourism Act of 2025 amends the Visit America Act to give the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism new duties to identify U.S. music tourism locations and promote domestic travel to those sites. It also broadens international travel facilitation to include music tourism locations and events, in coordination with other federal agencies, and prioritizes rural and culturally rich destinations for hosting international meetings, conferences, and exhibitions.
Finally, the bill adds a reporting requirement and defines music tourism in statute, so policymakers can track progress and impact.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill adds a new duty for the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism to identify U.S. music tourism locations and promote domestic travel to them. It also expands international travel facilitation to include music tourism sites and events and requires cross‑agency coordination for promotion of international travel to these locations.
Who It Affects
Federal travel and tourism policymakers, destination marketing organizations, music venues and museums, travel operators, and tourism-dependent communities—especially rural areas with music heritage.
Why It Matters
These changes establish a formal national focus on music tourism, with explicit mechanisms for domestic and international promotion, metrics, and reporting to government oversight bodies.
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What This Bill Actually Does
Section 2(a) assigns a new duty to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism to identify locations and events in the United States that matter to music tourism and to promote domestic travel to those sites. The aim is to concentrate national attention and federal support on places where music history, venues, studios, and related attractions can drive visitation and economic activity.
Section 2(b) broadens the ambit of international travel facilitation under the Visit America Act. In coordination with other federal agencies, the Assistant Secretary must strive to increase international business and leisure travel to the United States and ensure competitiveness by focusing on large meetings, conferences, and exhibitions, as well as rural destinations with rich cultural heritage and ecological tourism, and—importantly—music tourism locations and events.
This creates a formal linkage between music tourism and broader international travel promotion, with the expectation that foreign travelers will attend concerts, festivals, and other live music experiences in the United States.Section 2(c) adds a formal reporting requirement. Not later than one year after enactment and every two years thereafter, the Assistant Secretary must submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce a report detailing activities, findings, achievements, and vulnerabilities related to the goals set in sections (a) through (d).
This establishes accountability and data-driven evaluation of the new music tourism priorities.Section 2(d) redefines “music tourism” for the statute. It clarifies that music tourism includes traveling to music-related attractions (museums, studios, venues, and other sites) and traveling to attend music festivals, concerts, or other live performances.
This definitional clarity ensures that the broader travel promotion program can target specific music-oriented destinations and experiences.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill adds a new duty for the Assistant Secretary to identify U.S. music tourism locations and promote domestic travel to them.
It expands international travel facilitation to explicitly include music tourism locations and events.
A new reporting requirement mandates a review of activities, findings, achievements, and vulnerabilities within one year and every two years thereafter.
Music tourism is now statutorily defined to include travel to music-related attractions and attendance at live music events.
The definition and placement of music tourism are integrated with the broader Visit America Act framework to guide policy and funding.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short Title
This act may be cited as the American Music Tourism Act of 2025. The designation places music tourism policies under federal statutory treatment and links them to the existing Visit America Act framework, signaling a targeted effort to grow a music-focused segment of the tourism economy.
Domestic travel responsibilities
Section 605(b) is amended to add a new paragraph requiring the Assistant Secretary to identify locations and events important to music tourism and to facilitate and promote domestic travel to those locations. Practically, this creates a formal federal urge to spotlight music sites—venues, studios, museums, and related attractions—and to coordinate outreach and marketing support to boost domestic visitation.
Facilitation of international travel
Section 605(d) is amended to require the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with relevant federal agencies, to increase and facilitate international business and leisure travel to the United States with an emphasis on four areas: large meetings and exhibitions, rural and culturally rich destinations, sports and recreation events, and locations important to music tourism. The clause explicitly includes music tourism sites and events as targets for international travel promotion.
Reporting requirements
Section 605(f) is amended to add a new subsection requiring a report on domestic and international travel goals not later than one year after enactment and every two years thereafter. The report must cover activities, findings, achievements, and vulnerabilities related to the goals described in subsections (a) through (d), and be delivered to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Definitions and structuring
The term “music tourism” is codified and defined to include either traveling to music-related attractions or attending music festivals, concerts, or other live performances. The section also reorganizes the related definitions under the broader appropriation title, adjusting cross-references to accommodate the new music tourism term and to ensure consistency with the COVID-19 public health emergency terminology in the same title.
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Explore Economy in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Destination marketing organizations and local tourism offices gain a formal mandate and rationale to promote music-focused itineraries, which can attract more visitors and allocate resources to music districts.
- Music venues, museums, studios, and other music-related sites stand to see increased visitation and revenue from targeted campaigns and international exposure.
- Hotels, airlines, tour operators, and travel platforms can build music-tourism packages and partnerships around identified sites and events.
- Rural and culturally rich destinations gain leverage to attract international conferences, events, and tourists seeking distinctive music heritage experiences.
- State and local governments hosting music festivals or music-history sites may see enhanced economic activity and infrastructure investment.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal agencies will incur coordination and reporting costs as they implement cross-agency music-tourism initiatives.
- State and local tourism offices may need to align marketing strategies with federal guidance, incurring staff time and administrative costs.
- Music venues and event organizers could face new branding and compliance considerations as they scale marketing efforts and report outcomes.
- Small travel businesses and regional operators may bear administrative burdens to assemble data and respond to reporting requirements.
- Public budgets could face reallocation pressures if new programs require funding to support music-tourism activities; future appropriations may be affected.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Balancing a specialized music-tourism focus with broad, equitable tourism growth: can federal promotion of music destinations deliver measurable economic benefits across many communities without skewing investment toward already well-known sites?
The bill creates a targeted approach to grow music tourism through explicit federal promotion and cross‑agency coordination. While this can catalyze economic development in music hubs and lesser‑known cultural sites, it concentrates federal attention and resources on a specific subset of the travel economy.
That focus may raise questions about equitable geographic distribution, the risk of overconcentration in certain destinations, and the administrative burden placed on local partners to meet reporting requirements. In practice, success hinges on data quality, coordination across agencies, and a clearly articulated set of performance metrics rather than aspirational marketing alone.
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