Good to see President Obama meeting with US travel executives to discuss the role that travel can play in strengthening the American economy.
In the meeting, industry leaders discussed the need to pass the Travel Promotion Act, the first-ever US promotion and communications campaign to attract millions of additional international visitors to the United States annually and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. The US travel industry employs 7.7 million Americans and generates more than US$740 billion in spending annually and overseas visitors spend an average of US$4,000 per person, per visit.
It would be nice to see a similar initiative in Europe. During our work in the past with the ETOA, we have been frustrated in our attempts to have inbound travel recognised in such a way. The EU has no dedicated ministry looking after travel & tourism and as such any attempts to lobby for support is past from pillar-to-post until it is finally forgotten about!
The Czech Presidency continues until June this year and no doubt discussions will revolve around creating stimuli to the economies of Europe. Travel, leisure and hospitality is one of the largest employers in Europe, but with no voice to represent them, all appeal will fall on deaf ears.
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