WASHINGTON, DC-The US missed out on an international travel boom that blossomed between 2000 and 2010. If it had shared in this growth, it would be sitting on an additional $300 billion in visitor spending and an additional 441,000 jobs today. So said Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, at a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation and Export Promotion.
This can be rectified, he added. “Working together--Democrats and Republicans, Congress and Administration, government and industry,” Tisch said, “we can compete and win in the fiercely competitive market for international travel.”
Tisch’s proposed solution is to set a national goal to regain 17% of the global travel market. Citing figures from the US Travel Association, he said that if the nation were able to achieve that goal it would bring the US market share back to 2000 levels. Better still, it would generate one million new jobs and generate $859 billion in economic output.
Meeting this goal, however, would require a financial commitment to improve the nation’s infrastructure. “Our aviation infrastructure is antiquated, inefficient and unwelcoming,” Tisch said. “Flight delays, long waits on the tarmac and security chokepoints frustrate international and domestic travelers.” He noted that the US ranks 32nd in the world in aviation infrastructure, citing Building America’s Future Educational Foundation and the American Society of Civil Engineers statistics.
Other priorities that Congress would have to make include supporting Brand USA, which promotes the US to international visitors, and reforming the US’ bureaucratic visa system, he said.
Tisch’s testimony is timely, following by days a new report by the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council that predicted the global travel industry will grow more slowly in 2011 and 2012 than previously indicated.
In March 2011 it forecast growth of 4.5% and 5.1% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Those numbers have now been downgraded to 3.2% and 3.3%, respectively, following a period of crisis in the euro zone and the slowdown in the US recovery.
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