New U.S. Travel Association Outlines Strategy to Support Travel

Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association, who will serve in the same capacity for the U.S. Travel Association which will come into being next year, is outlining the new group’s strategy for supporting the U.S. travel industry through difficult economic times and making sure that the incoming administration understands its importance.

The group will continue its efforts to push the Travel Promotion Act through Congress. The bill made it through the House of Representatives, but, due to the election year, ran out of time in the U.S. Senate, Dow said. He pointed out that President-elect Obama was an early supporter of the bill.

The association will also work to spread the message that business travel and meetings and convention travel benefit companies’ bottom lines and is seeking anecdotal evidence of that from throughout the travel industry. Dow is asking the industry to share any stories, trends or data with the U.S. Travel Association by emailing it to goodnews@ustravel.org.

The group will also strive to educate policymakers on how travel not only contributes substantially to the economy but can benefit the country diplomatically. It is seeing some success in this arena, Dow said, the group was just notified that its position papers about the economic and diplomatic impact of travel that are posted on the website, http://www.thepoweroftravel.org/, will be posted on Obama’s website, http://www.change.org/.

The group is also going to expand the organization’s expertise to include not just inbound international travel but domestic travel as well. And, noting the incoming administration’s focus on environmental issues, Dow said that the group is launching a website about green travel with American Express early next year.