In an effort to boost the struggling tourism industry, the National Tour Association sent a letter to President Bush urging…
In an effort to boost the struggling tourism industry, the National Tour Association sent a letter to President Bush urging his administration to support travel.
The NTA Board of Directors made a decision in the April board meeting to contact President Bush and ask for his support for the travel and tourism industry. The letter is part of an ongoing effort originally initiated when NTA contact U.S. governors and Canadian premiers encouraging them to back the industry as well.
Americans need to travel again and experience the many and varied natural and historic sites our country has to offer, said the NTA Board of Directors in the letter.
NTA is continuously working on behalf of its members to combat any negative legislation that might affect the travel and tourism industry.
Our efforts wouldn`t be complete without the attempt of our members to promote travel and tourism on a grassroots level in their home state, said 2003 NTA Chairman Charlie McIlvain, CTP. We thank our membership, our Grassroots Action Network, and the NTA Board of Directors for their commitment to improving the industry overall.
The text of the letter is as follows:
The National Tour Association is an organization of nearly 4,000 tourism professionals focused on the development and promotion of tour operator packaged travel.
The American travel industry is in distress. The economy, heightened security advisory levels, the war in Iraq and SARS-related anxiety have all combined to depress America`s travel industry, the nation`s largest services export industry, responsible for more than $555 billion in gross receipts in 2001.
Once-bustling airports are seeing decreased passenger traffic, hotels have low occupancy rates not seen for more than 10 years, and more than 500,000 travel and tourism industry related jobs have been lost since Sept. 11, 2001.
Americans need to travel again and experience the many and varied natural and historical sites our country has to offer.
We, the Board of Directors of the National Tour Association, ask you to encourage Americans to travel and experience the sites, sounds and cultures that comprise the fabric of this great land. In 1991, your mother showed support for the travel industry by taking a commercial flight during a period of industry distress and your father recorded public service announcements on behalf of the industry. And your public service announcements on behalf of the industry immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 were appreciated.
We respectfully ask you to once again seek out some means for showing your support of the American travel and tourism industry.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
