Strange as it seems, given these difficult economic and political times, the U.S. tourism industry is on the near-certain verge of its greatest legislative victory since, well, ever. Last week, the Senate passed and sent to President Obama the Travel Promotion Act, which if fully implemented as designed will raise $200 million annually to boost international travel to the U.S. Since President Obama was a co-sponsor of the legislation when he was in the Senate, it’s a good bet he’ll sign the bill within the next week.

The legislation creates the Corporation for Travel Promotion, a public-private partnership to develop marketing and communications programs to attract more visitors to the U.S. and to explain travel security policies to these travelers. Part of the funding comes from a $10 fee levied on visitors from countries included in the Visa Waiver Program. (That’s still a bargain for these visitors since tourists to the U.S. from non-waiver countries pay $131 to secure a visa.) The rest of the funding will come from the public sector, although—and this is a key point—it’s far from clear at this point which companies will pony up and how much they’ll each pay to fulfill the $100-million-a-year goal.

And while no taxpayer money will be used to fund the marketing effort, the benefits will be felt throughout the tourism industry and into the general economy. One independent study says a fully funded program will attract 1.6 million additional visitors to the U.S., generate $4 billion in spending and create 40,000 new jobs. And best of all, perhaps, this economic boost could reduce the federal budget deficit by $425 million over the next 10 years.

Sadly, even if these projections hold true, it won’t completely reverse the shameful slide in overseas travel to the U.S. that’s afflicted us since the beginning of the last decade. According to Oxford Economics, in 2009 the U.S. hosted 2.4 million fewer overseas visitors than we did in 2000, resulting in a $200 billion-plus decline in direct visitor spending and the loss of more than 400,000 jobs.

A cynic (of which I’m not) would say it’s a shame the federal government has and continues to pay not one dollar to promote tourism, while it spends billions to bail out the auto and financial services industries. As crucial as they are to our nation’s economic health, these other industries are probably not as important in the long run as is tourism, an industry that conservatively employs one of eight Americans, can never be outsourced and, most importantly, plays a crucial role in promoting world peace through human interaction.

Although I’m not a cynic, I’m not Pollyanna, either. While passage of this legislative is a massive step forward, there’s still a lot of work to do and questions to be answered before the tourism numbers begin to rise. And even though a lack of tourism marketing has surely slowed the number of visitors to the U.S., there are other challenges we need to overcome before foreign visitors feel comfortable coming to our shores. But this is a hell of a start.