It's been am interesting month so far for this nation's leaders as they take their first meaningful steps to develop a Tourism Strategy for America.
This good news, of course, is that the Commerce Department unveiled its strategy for reaching 100 million international visitors by 2021 last Thursday. And, for the most part, reviews have been favorable.
At the same time, however, the President used a mallet to address a problem with which the government had already dealt...namely, the GSA mess. Instead of moving on, the the Obama administration has placed new restrictions on federal travel and meetings. A 30% reduction from 2010 levels has been ordered to be the law of the land through 2016.
Then there was the good news that the U.S. Travel Association's Geoff Freeman has been named Chair of the Passenger Advocacy Subcommittee of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee at the Transportation Security Administration. A shorter way of saying that is what Geoff said in a prepared statement: "Travelers deserve to have a voice in Washington when it comes to the aviation screening process and entry procedures." True Dat.
At the same time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (the what?) announced that demand for gasoline this summer will be at an 11 year low. At the same time, MMGY Global and U.S. Travel revealed that intent to travel this summer is up significantly over last year.
What's it all mean? America has a tourism strategy (at least until the Republican House takes another whack at it). Cutting federal meetings and travel is a typically hamhanded response to a media-inflamed issue. Summer travel will be up but we'll drive shorter distances.
And, there is finally a glimmer of hope that TSA might become more customer focused.
OK...not really. But, we're excited that Geoff will shake a few cages in the process.
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