COVID-19 had a devastating impact on the travel industry. The pandemic’s effect on global travel has cost the U.S. economy billions in lost spending, imperiled the livelihoods of millions of American workers and jeopardized travel businesses of all sizes.
U.S. Travel led successful advocacy efforts to develop and pass federal measures to aid the travel and tourism industry’s recovery, including funding to enable the resumption of marketing and promotion to leisure travelers.
On March 11, 2021 President Biden signed into law a massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief bill called the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
U.S. Travel successfully fought to secure billions of dollars in additional federal relief for all segments of the travel industry in the ARPA.
In addition, following passage of the ARPA, U.S. Travel endorsed the PPP Extension Act of 2021 and successfully lobbied Congress to enact the bill—providing hard-hit travel businesses and DMOs with additional access to this critical economic lifeline.
We worked with lawmakers to introduce and build support for the bipartisan Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act of 2021 (HCJRA).
In addition, U.S. Travel led the development of the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (H.R.5823), which would create a federal program to help stabilize pandemic risk coverage in business interruption and event cancellation insurance.
Most recently, U.S. Travel advocated for a number of key travel provisions in the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes the Restoring Brand USA Act to provide $250 million in relief funding to the nation’s destination marketing organization.
