The Power of A

As many people travel over the July 4^th recess, the travel and hospitality community are working with Congress to help revitalize the nation’s economy.

USTA, the U.S. Travel Association (formerly the Travel Industry Association) is working on numerous fronts to help keep the U.S. tourism industry vibrant in the face of a down economy.  Legislatively, USTA is supporting the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, legislation that establishes a private-government partnership to promote the U.S. as a tourist destination for overseas visitors.  The first step has already been taken with the “Discover America” website to highlight destinations for foreign visitors.  The legislation is currently out of committee in the Senate but consideration has been held up on the floor due to procedural concerns.

USTA is also using new media to promote travel in the U.S.  The “Power of Travel” website was created to centralize statistics and facts about the benefits of tourism to the U.S. economy.  In tandem with this, USTA conducted its “Faces of Travel” contest, where individuals shared their stories of the importance of travel via YouTube.  In its most recent contest, USTA selected Paco Saldaña as their winner; his video is below:

Saldana Video

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is also encouraging tourism by making travel planning easier and cheaper.  Their “Travel Sense” website is a central location for connecting people with their members, as well as providing travel tips and resources.

Is your association involved with travel issues?  If so, share your story with us.

Quick Hits

Members of Congress are also travelling this week - back home to their districts and states.  ASAE encourages its members to take advantage of seeing their members of Congress back home to share with them information on health care, the importance of travel, and other association issues.

Wal-Mart comes out in favor of an employer mandate (see its letter here)… President Obama continues to push health care reform through a White House town hall meeting.  You can find out how to participate and ask a question here… New York Times story on how three-quarters of those who fall into medical bankrupcy had insurance when they filed… Questions by critics on how much the promised pharmaceutical health care reform savings will save.