Popular commentator offers Obama RX to heal ailing travel economy
A popular commentator, Rob Lovitt at msnbc.com., suggests that US President Obama need not invest billions of dollars but some “political will” to quickly improve the US’s ailing travel market. He cites five proposals:
(1) Resolve the conflict in the control tower. “As president, you should insist that the nation’s air traffic controllers and FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) come to a mutually acceptable agreement on staffing, pay and working conditions,” he says. At the same time, the president could convince the airlines to bring outsourced maintenance work back to the US (which might improve safety standards).
(2) Provide federal legislation requiring the airlines to provide food, water and working restrooms during delays. At the same time, encourage the Department of Transportation (DOT) to come up with real and solid rules, in addition to the DOT’s recent three-hour rule that requires help for stranded passengers on the tarmac.
(3) Reinvigorate train service, especially high-speed. Costly yes, but there are incremental improvements such as extended sidings and double-tracking that would cost less.
(4) Fixing infrastructure financing is “not exciting, it doesn’t make headlines and it won’t be easy, but this could be travel’s sleeper issue of the year.” Raising the federal gas tax (the last increase was in 1993) may be the only way to avoid future disrepair and even deeper deficits.
(5) “And finally, an easy one. Once you work through the truly critical issues facing the nation, maybe you could convince your colleagues in Congress to resurrect the Travel Promotion Act, which was introduced last year to boost international visits to the US,” says Lovitt.
According to the US Travel Association (formerly TIA), a $100 million campaign would result in $8 billion per year in new visitor spending and $850 million per year in federal tax revenue.
By David Wilkening
David
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