The Travel Industry Association of America is calling for a national tourism marketing organisation for the United States - based on the public-private partnership system in operation in Florida: FLA USA Visit Florida.

The not-for-profit organisation matches government funding - it receives 15.75 per cent of the $2 tax on car hire in the state - with funding from its 3,000 partners within Florida's tourism industry.

'Visit Florida works because our partners drive the organisation, so our campaigns are constructed for them,' said vice-president sales, Eileen Forrow. 'Also, because it is not a government agency, we can move much more quickly.

'Following 11 September, for example, within two weeks we had released a $2m emergency fund to try and counter the effects on tourism. After eight weeks we secured $20m from the government - and this was matched by private investors so we could saturate the market with advertising.'

Forrow also said that bookings to Florida follow a 3-4 year cyclical pattern and following the success of the Millennium, 2001 and 2002 were expected to be difficult years even before the events of September 11.

'While the terrorist attacks accelerated the downturn, all the signs show that recovery from the cyclical trough is happening faster than expected,' Forrow said. She predicts the industry will have recovered by late 2003. Details: www.flausa.com