U.S. Travel Hails Bipartisan Bill to Help Rescue Industry

The U.S. Travel Association praised the Thursday introduction of one of its major legislative priorities: a bill providing much-needed assistance to the devastated travel industry through numerous key incentive and relief measures.

The bipartisan Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act provides stimulus needed to help bring back the millions of travel jobs lost to the pandemic. Specifically, the bill provides:

• A temporary business tax credit to revitalize business meetings, conferences, and other structured events.
• A temporarily restored entertainment business expense deduction to help entertainment venues and performing arts centers recover.
• An individual tax credit to stimulate non-business travel.
• Tax relief for restaurants and food and beverage companies to help restore food service jobs and strengthen the entire American food supply chain.

The travel industry is by far the U.S. industry that has been hardest-hit by the COVID pandemic, losing half a trillion dollars in travel-related spending last year—10 times the negative economic impact of 9/11. Almost four in 10 U.S. jobs lost in 2020 are in the leisure and hospitality sector.

“The evidence is abundantly clear: there will not be a U.S. economic recovery without a travel recovery, and travel cannot recover without strong and innovative policy assistance,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. “Even with the ray of hope provided by vaccines, it is unclear when travel demand will be able to rebound in earnest. This bill contains critical provisions to assist in rebuilding this crucial but suffering American industry.”

U.S. Travel is leading a campaign to secure support for the Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act, submitting a letter to Capitol Hill signed by more than 80 major travel-related companies and organizations.

The principal sponsors of the Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act are Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Reps. Steven Horsford (D-NV), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Tom Rice (R-SC) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA).

Said Dow: “For months we have been urging Congress to provide stimulus for travel demand in addition to the relief this industry so badly needs, and we thank the sponsors for advancing this bill that would do so much to spur recovery.”

Click here for details of the legislation.