During NTA’s Grassroots Symposium, Feb 8-10, NTA members will take the association’s priority advocacy issues to Capitol Hill. NTA has scheduled over 100 meetings with the congressmen, their professional staff, and the numerous committees that impact travel and tourism.

“I can’t think of a better way to further the needs of the travel and tourism industry than by calling on our elected leaders to get their support,” said NTA President Lisa Simon, CTP. “Travel is vitally important to the U.S. economy and, as voters and representatives of travel and tourism, we have an obligation to educate Congress on issues that effect our members’ businesses.”

The NTA Symposium also includes informative sessions with key Washington leaders. Topics to be covered include travel to Cuba, parks and public lands, transportation and entry, exit and visa rules.

Symposium attendees will hear from Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), former Congressman Jon Porter, American Recreation Coalition President and CEO Derrick Crandall and Cuba experts Mavis Anderson (Latin America Working Group), Phil Peters (Lexington Institute) and Geoff Thale (Washington Office on Latin America, to name a few.

NTA’s eight active priority issues for 2010 are:
- U.S. entry and exit procedures, visa issuance and the expansion of the Visa Waiver Program
- Marketing grants for destination marketing organizations and nonprofit organizations
- Airline policies that impact sellers of travel
- Lifting of U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba
- Effective implementation of the Travel Promotion Act and the creation of a high-level travel/tourism presence
- National Parks and public lands access/marketing funds
- Passage of highway and Federal Aviation Administration authorization bills
-  Hotel occupancy tax issues.