The Washington-backed plan aims to quickly regain international visitor numbers, which peaked at 79.3 million in 2019 but collapsed to 19.2 million in 2020.

Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said the new national strategy would generate annual tourist spend of $279 billion.

It aims to “reduce the industry’s carbon footprint, create safe and secure checkpoints and bolster travel and tourism in underserved and underrepresented communities across the country”.

There will also be an emphasis on safety and accessibility, plus a focus on showcasing the natural environment and goals to reduce tourism’s climate change impact.

Raimondo said: “The impact of Covid-19 has taken a toll on our national and local economies, but it also has presented us with a unique opportunity to mould a more inclusive, equitable, sustainable and resilient travel and tourism industry than ever before.”

Roger Dow, US Travel Association president and chief executive, said: “The new National Travel and Tourism Strategy comes at an important time when international travel spending in the US was still 78% below 2019 levels in 2021.

“The strategy sets out specific actions that the government can take to rebuild our travel economy and make it more globally competitive than it was before the pandemic.

“There is a lot of work ahead, but the administration must start by immediately repealing the pre-departure testing requirement for all vaccinated international air travellers and taking steps to drastically lower visa wait times.

“More than 40 nations have safely removed their pre-departure testing requirement and a recent survey found that 54% of international travellers were less likely to visit the US with the requirement still in place.”