While the COVID-19 pandemic registers in a “category of its own” for overall damage to the economy, including travel, the head of the US Travel Association (USTA) believes the industry will rebuild itself in the face of its “toughest challenge yet.”
“We have been here before,” said Roger Dow during his recent State of the Travel Industry address, citing, in particular, how the travel industry was “decimated” after 9/11.
“We lost a third of our global market share – the beginning of travel’s ‘Lost Decade,’” he said. “Many said travel would never recover… that the industry we had worked so hard to build had been extinguished in an instant. That travel as we knew it was forever changed…”
But Dow pointed out: “Not only did we recover, but with great focus, unity, and determination, we grew to have our strongest decade ever. We committed ourselves to the mission of rebuilding the US travel industry. That was travel’s ‘Comeback Decade.’”
The long-time USTA boss said similar focus and determination will be needed to write “the next great chapter of our industry’s remarkable story” in a post-pandemic world and believes it will be “fueled by the strength of the remarkable men and women who contribute so much to this industry.”
And while the US travel industry alone counted 4.5 million job losses by the end of 2020 – and another 61,000 jobs lost by the Leisure & Hospitality sector in January, as reported recently by the USTA – combined with US$500 billion in pandemic-related losses, Dow was quick to state: “Our goal is not simply to recover what we’ve lost, but to rebuild an industry that’s even better positioned than before the crisis – one that’s more globally competitive, more innovative, and more unified.”
He observed, “Travel has spurred economic recovery before. We saw it after 9/11, following the 2008 financial crisis, after the BP oil spill, after devastating multiple natural disasters.”
And while he noted some forecasts suggest that recovery from the pandemic will take five years, he said, “That’s far too long.”
Dow believes that travel recovery will be based on five “indispensable” pillars:
• Economic recovery
• Investing in infrastructure and the future of mobility
• Increasing global competitiveness
• Reimagining air travel, and
• Streamlining travel and security facilitation.
To date, he said, the travel industry has played its part.
“Look at the resolve we have shown this past year: Hotels hosting healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic; travel leaders fighting for federal relief to protect their employees; our entire industry joining together to implement rigorous health and safety guidance to keep guests and workers safe…”
But the travel industry can’t do it alone, and needs help, he added.
“First, America must get a handle on the virus. We must rigorously adhere to sound health and safety practices – especially wearing masks and physical distancing. We also need federal leadership to accelerate vaccine distribution – a priority of the Biden administration – and to encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as shots are available.
“Second, we’re encouraging the administration to establish a national plan to build confidence in domestic travel through clear public health guidance… and to boost travel demand with aggressive economic stimulus measures.
“Third, the administration should safely reopen international travel through risk-based COVID-19 testing protocols and remove international travel bans. These should be the first steps in setting a national goal to welcome 116 million annual visitors to the US by 2028 and re-establish the United States as the most welcoming country in the world.”
Travel businesses also require access to grants, loans, and programs to help them get back on their feet. And it also requires policies and incentives to safely bring back meetings and events, he said. “We need to make sure all travel businesses – hotels, airlines, attractions, theme parks, rental car companies, cruise lines, independent tour operators and so many others—can sustain themselves through this crisis.”
If so, the travel industry can reprise its “historic role in leading America’s economic recovery.”
“Simply put,” Dow said, “a broad-based economic recovery is impossible without a revival of the travel industry.”