by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:51 AM ET, Fri April 30, 2021
The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) announced the launch of a digital campaign to reinforce the importance of the travel agency industry and the need for additional relief from Congress.
As part of a partnership with Washington DC-based multimedia organization POLITICO, the ASTA is working to increase awareness on Capitol Hill. The centerpiece of the POLITICO campaign is the "10 Reasons Why Travel Advisors Are Industry Essential" focus index.
The promotion will take place across the POLITICO.com homepage, POLITICO's Morning Transportation newsletter and various social media channels, while exposing the importance of travel agencies to the policymakers in Washington D.C.
"While some bright spots have started to emerge, the fact of the matter is that travel advisors face a long road to recovery with the State Department and CDC continuing to discourage international travel, while cruise lines remain shuttered and business travel is still at a fraction of 2019 levels," ASTA CEO Zane Kerby said.
"Support for the travel industry in the various relief bills has been tragically inadequate, which is why we have partnered with POLITICO to enhance our traditional advocacy work - itself unprecedented in its scale and scope for the past 14 months - and find new ways to reach policymakers," Kerby continued.
The campaign includes changes to the SAVE Act (H.R. 2120) to include travel agencies in the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, as well as targeting additional relief for the most severely distressed industries with prioritization for businesses who suffered a 75 percent or more year-over-year revenue loss in 2020.
"To date, Congress has prioritized higher-profile segments of the travel and hospitality industry at the expense of less-visible segments experiencing the same or more severe levels of revenue loss, like ours," Kerby said. "We intend to use this POLITICO campaign to highlight this unfairness, further educate policymakers about our part of the industry and get our members the relief they deserve."
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