US Travel urges congress to avoid shutdown
Tuesday, 23 Sep, 2015
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A Federal Government shutdown could cost the travel industry more than $185 million in lost business a day, the US Travel Association says.
Number crunchers at US Travel forecast it would have a negative impact on at least 530,000 travel-related jobs due to temporary layoffs and reduced hours.
In 2013, a two-week shutdown cost $680 million in lost travel spending the Association said.
"Political leaders need to understand that there are real-world consequences to these arguments that go on in the halls of power," US Travel Association CEO Roger Dow said.
"I realize that each side feels passionately about their respective position, but frankly there’s just no excuse for letting the fiscal year expire without a budget when we know that people’s very livelihood, their ability to feed their families, is at stake."
US Travel forecast the likely cost of the shutdown based on the closure of national parks and monuments and the scrapping of government related business travel.
Dow also said a second shutdown in recent years could inflict lasting damage for the US brand as a tourist destination.
"Though officials assured us at the time that the 2013 shutdown would not affect the work of those agencies, anecdotal evidence on that score was mixed," Dow said.
"If we detect that a new shutdown is hurting those travel-related functions as well, we’ll certainly stand ready to spotlight the fallout for policymakers and the public."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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