Washington, DC
April 22, 2005

International Travel Challenges/Economic Impact

The Travel Business Roundtable (TBR) came to D.C. this past week joining with The U.S. Chamber of Commerce to focus on the challenges USA cities and the travel business community face as our nation continues to lag behind other country increases in recurring international business and leisure travelers.

Following 9/11, The United States Conference of Mayors stood with the TBR on a number of fronts to encourage Americans to travel again. Conference President Marc Morial, then mayor of New Orleans and TBR President Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels, joined us together along with organizations to remove fear from our people and we were pleased to see the results when travel, both leisure and business, came back to remove the economic devastation to the travel industry and our cities, which are directly hit when people don't travel to our cities, rent hotel rooms and spend their money.

Today, we are faced with another challenge — the effects or our image abroad due to our Iraq War, coupled with the question of our embassies around the world providing visas to foreigners desirous of coming to our country.

At the TBR Annual Dinner, Marriott CEO J.W. Marriott received the award of the year for his service to the travel industry.

Together, he and TBR President Jonathan Tisch have spent years working together working both sides of the aisle in Congress and the White House in a most bipartisan political manner to get Washington to understand the economic impact of our cities and our nation as we are challenged by persons across the globe choosing other nations for business and leisure destinations because of the absolute hassle individuals must go through obtaining visas.

Marriott told us that in London he passed the American Embassy offices to see long lines of Brits standing in lines stretching many blocks facing the bureaucratic challenges now in place due to security issues. It is a concern that all have security to protect us from international terrorists. But the travel industry continues to raise the question as to whether there is a better way to allow international leisure and business travelers to come to America due to the economic impact on our cities and our nation.

The story told by Marriott about the long lines in London manifests itself to other American Embassies and ambassadors. Last September, we were received in Poland and Ambassador Victor Ashe insisted that we understand that the "visa problem" is an issue many ambassadors face.

As the travel industry CEOs will tell you with statistics to back it up, China and India are having heavy increases while the USA lags behind.

President Bush has appointed his trusted aide, Karen Hughes, to head up a "public diplomacy" initiative under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The travel industry CEOs and representatives are seeking to put the issue of international travel to the USA within her portfolio. In many of the countries around the world, television ads, brochures, and videos promoting travel to the USA are not effective. The travel industry business leaders say that the best way to regain our standing is to allow more international travelers to visit our nation and they will spread the word to their fellow citizens and they will also come back too.

Recently, lots of polls and surveys indicate that so many of the citizens in nations with travelers favoring the USA today have a bad feeling toward our country because of the Iraq War. That may be true and the question of their traveling to our nation may be a part of the travel lag we are experiencing as compared to other nations. But travel experts will tell you it's more about the visa problem and the hassle one faces to visit the United States.

An example is a law abiding middle class family of four, two adults and two children, sitting at their breakfast room table trying to decide where they travel to spend their money for a Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn vacation. Their choices are China, Canada, Argentina, Japan and the U.S.A. Somebody in the family, probably the mother and father say, who wants to go to the USA when we have to stand in lines for three hours? It is a practical matter. All families have tight schedules and stress from everyday life. In fact that's why they go on vacations. But they decide to avoid another hassle. They opt for China, Canada, Italy, or Argentina. They don't need the hassle. And they don't spend thousands of dollars in the USA as they once did. When millions of families make that same decision, there is a multiplier effect that results in the heavy losses our travel industry is experiencing. And the most important point — it is a loss to our cities.

We hope Washington listens to the travel industry. And lets hope the "visa problem" is more balanced so that international business and leisure travelers will find it easier to travel. It is an economic impact issue for our nation and our cities.

HAZMAT Issues

We are continuing to see the issue of hazardous materials coming through our cities raise serious concern to our mayors and local governments. Recently the Washington (DC) city council passed an ordinance banning hazardous materials from the railroads coming through their city. This development has thrown the issue in court. And there is a battle brewing between cities and the railroad companies. This is not a new issue for us. In the past there have been flare-ups usually after a spill of contaminated materials where people were hurt and property was damaged.

Post 9/11, however, raises even more grave concern and even before 9/11, we know that fertilizer was used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma and killed so many ten years ago this week.

Our policy is not a ban of these chemical materials because we realized that chemicals are needed for the businesses and farms throughout America. What we are asking for is a modern up to date and accurate notification that these materials are coming through our cities and in some instances parked for days in railroad yards adjacent and within our cities. Our mayors continue to listen to our first-responders on this question. The issue is not going away. Recently, we had signs of the railroads wanting to work with us together on this issue. In the past, there has been a reluctance to compromise and find a solution to ease the concerns our first-responders and mayors are expressing.

In Chicago at our Annual Meeting in June, we are inviting the railroad representatives to come and meet with us. We have also communicated our concerns through a letter signed by a large number of mayors asking the then Secretary of Homeland Security Ridge to address this dangerous challenge we face. We will now bring the issue before the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. This issue is not going away. We need now a modern updated system of notification of hazardous materials coming through or parked in our cities. And we will continue to push for it — the technology is there. We are hopeful that all parties listen and that we can have a new system, a better way as we are charged to protect the lives and property of millions who live in cities, large and, small throughout our nation. For information on this issue, please contact Ron Thaniel, Assistant Director of the Conference at 202-861-6711, or by email: rthaniel@usmayors.org.

Happy? Or Unhappy Earth Day!

Today, 35 years ago, we had our first Earth Day, an environmental movement founded by a great American, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. I remember walking arm in arm with a line of mayors on that Spring day in downtown New York City as Mayor John Lindsay led the United States Conference of Mayors to work with Washington on a number of initiatives that still exist today.

But yesterday's vote in the House on an energy bill that rejected our amendment to prevent the bill from shielding makers of the carcinogenic gasoline additive MTBE from product liability of lawsuits coming as result of drinking water supplies doesn't make us want to seriously say "Happy Earth Day." Indeed it is an unhappy earth day due to the leakage of MTBE to our drinking water supplies. And even more to be unhappy on this earth day is the unhappy unfunded mandates we are going to have to pay to clean up and the political and legal liability we face that the House is passing down to mayors and local government.

Aside from the dangerous quality of MTBE, we must call this what is — another unfunded federal mandate we should not have to pay.

We will take our message and our effort to the Senate. We will keep you alert as we go forward. For information, please contact Debra DeHaney Howard, Assistant Executive Director at 202-861-6702 or by email: ddehaney@usmayors.org.

Chicago Annual Meeting - June 10-14

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and his team working with our team are putting together an Annual Meeting - June 10-14 you do not want to miss.

Thanks to the leadership of Conference President Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, we are providing stimulating sessions and also sessions showing best practices so that Mayors can come learn and share and take innovations and best practices home.

Chicago is a world-class city! And I can assure you; Mayor Daley is providing a welcoming to his city to his mayoral colleagues — all of you — that will go down in history. So register now! Contact Carol Edwards, Director Conferences and Conventions at 202-293-7730 or by email: cedwards@usmayors.org.