ADVOCATING FOR A FULL TRAVEL RECOVERY
We are making significant progress on our priorities to accelerate the recovery of our entire industry by restarting leisure and business travel, as well as meetings and events for both domestic and international travel.
Reopening International Travel
We are working closely with administration officials to ensure a safe, layered and expedient reopening of U.S. borders to inbound travel. Following a meeting with U.S. travel industry CEOs last week, Commerce Secretary Raimondo released a statement expressing her understanding of the impact of the pandemic on our industry and pledging her support to revitalizing travel.
Today, Senators Klobuchar (D-MN), Blunt (R-MO), Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Cramer (R-ND), co-chairs of the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus, sent a letter to Secretary Raimondo to further shine a light on the economic impact on the travel industry and request information on the specific actions the U.S. Department of Commerce is taking to accelerate the industry's recovery.
Spurring Travel Demand Through The Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act
U.S. Travel is currently seeking cosponsors of The Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act (S.477 and H.R.1346) to incentivize travel demand through a series of temporary, refundable travel tax credits. If enacted, this bill is projected to add 1.5 million more jobs and $599 billion to the GDP, making it a significant economic driver.
Please urge your lawmakers to support this bill and stay tuned for future ways to activate.
Restoring Professional Meetings and Events
We are working with our industry partners to demonstrate to local, state and federal officials that professional events are distinctly different from mass gatherings and can be conducted safely with the proper health measures in place. The Meetings Mean Business and Let's Meet There Coalitions are working in tandem to develop a framework for safe professional meetings and events in addition to drafting a white paper to share with decision-makers, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and C-suite executives.