November 4, 2002

Mayors and leading officials from the travel and tourism industries met in Atlanta, October 17 to discuss ways that cities, business and the federal government can work together to assist getting Americans to travel again. Hosted by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, chair of the Conference of Mayors Travel and Tourism Task Force, the Travel and Tourism Summit was co'sponsored by the Travel Business Roundtable and the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus. The meeting's agenda included the release of a new study outlining the benefits of the travel and tourism industry to metro economies and the adoption of a 10-point Mayors Action Plan to assist the travel and tourism industry.

"We are here because we realize the importance of being proactive in the effort to stabilize this important industry," said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. "As tourism goes, so goes the economic well-being of our communities. We cannot and will not leave it to chance. This task force will be very aggressive in pursuing the implementation of our ten-point action plan to boost travel and tourism."

"The United States is losing tourism market share, and with it jobs and tax revenue, to our foreign competitors who are spending vast sums of money to promote their countries," said Jonathan Tisch, Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable and Chairman & CEO of Loews Hotels. "We are the only developed nation in the world that does not make a strategic federal investment to promote our country as an international destination. In fact, the U.S. is now the third most visited country, behind France and Spain. The public and private sectors must work together to reverse this trend."

"Tourism is the economic engine that drives communities across our country both large and small," said Michael Gehrisch, President & CEO of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus. "Armed with this new data, we can work together as an industry like never before to give that engine a powerful jumpstart," he said.

Douglas Baker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Service Industries, Tourism and Finance, represented the Bush Administration at the meeting. He pledged that the Administration would work with mayors and the travel and tourism industry to help get the confidence level up again among American travelers. He said the President's economic plan will help to get the nation's economy moving again and thus help the return of the business traveler.

A number of mayors joined in the discussions and talked about how their cities were responding to the travel and tourism challenges. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick discussed how his efforts to restore his city's economic vitality through such projects as two new major league stadiums and a riverfront revitalization project will encourage greater tourism to his city. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman discussed how his city has rebounded from 9/11 and that the occupancy rates at the city's hotels over weekends is at 98 percent. Philadelphia Mayor John Street stressed that while certain sectors of his city were making a rebound, it was important for the federal government to become more involved in partnering with cities to help the local travel and touriSummit participants also included Augusta (GA) Mayor Bob Young, Jackson (MS) Mayor Harvey Johnson, Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, Savannah Mayor Floyd Adams, Roswell (GA) Mayor Jere Wood, North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, and Natchez Mayor Frank L. Smith. Sprugeon Richardson, President of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and Vice Chairman of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, helped to host the meeting. Other private sector representatives included the directors of the local convention and visitors bureaus' directors and senior officials with Six Continents Hotels, Asian American Hotel Owners, Jones Lang LaSalle, Wyndham International, and Coca-Cola.

Summit participants also included Augusta (GA) Mayor Bob Young, Jackson (MS) Mayor Harvey Johnson, Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, Savannah Mayor Floyd Adams, Roswell (GA) Mayor Jere Wood, North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, and Natchez Mayor Frank L. Smith. Sprugeon Richardson, President of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and Vice Chairman of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, helped to host the meeting. Other private sector representatives included the directors of the local convention and visitors bureaus- directors and senior officials with Six Continents Hotels, Asian American Hotel Owners, Jones Lang LaSalle, Wyndham International, and Coca-Cola.

Travel and Tourism in Metro Economies

Travel and tourism is a key contributor to the economies of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, according to a report released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Travel Business Roundtable, and the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus at the Atlanta Travel and Tourism Summit. The research finds international travel to the U.S. significantly suppressed because of the weak economy and 9/11 and predicts it will remain threatened, barring a concerted effort by the public and private sectors.

The report, developed by DRI-WEFA, an economic research firm, is accessible at usmayors.org. Key findings as reported by Adam Sacks, Senior Principle for Travel and Tourism for DRI, are:

• In 2000, travel and tourism was a $272 billion industry in the nation's top 100 metro areas, including $17.6 billion in New York, $14 billion in Chicago, $13.6 billion in Los Angeles-Long Beach, $11.2 billion in Atlanta, $3.5 billion in Pittsburgh, and more than $1 billion in Colorado Springs. Travel and tourism is the largest share of the gross metropolitan economy in Las Vegas (27.3 percent), Honolulu (13.9 percent), and Orlando (12.3 percent).
• In 2000, tourism supported 7.9 million jobs in the nation's 100 largest metro areas, including Chicago (207,436 jobs), New York (198,998), Los Angeles-Long Beach (177,264), Atlanta (172,954), Washington (152,891), Dallas (140,661), Detroit (76,775), and Salt Lake City (45,175).
• A significant travel slowdown, the result of the weak economy and 9/11, has hit metro economies disproportionately hard, cutting more than 500,000 tourism-related jobs in the top 100 metro areas through 2002. Tourism job losses have been particularly severe in Las Vegas (-17 percent), Chicago (-12 percent), Dallas (-12 percent), Phoenix (-11 percent) and Orlando (-11 percent).
• A reduction in international visitors will cost metro areas more than $22.6 billion in lost economic activity in 2001 and 2002, of which more than $12.5 billion is attributed to 9/11. Losses were largest in New York ($5.9 billion of which $3.3 billion is attributed to 9/11), San Francisco ($2.1 billion of which $1.2 billion is attributed to 9/11), Los Angeles ($1.75 billion of which $970 million is attributed to 9/11), and Miami ($1.6 billion of which $861 million is attributed to 9/11).
• International visits to the United States are not expected to recover soon without aggressive efforts by the public and private sectors. The report projects that the nation could achieve an additional $100 billion in international tourism spending from 2003 to 2007 if key strategic and policy decisions were made to foster the recovery and growth of key tourism export markets.

Ten Point Action Plan

"As we meet in the tenth largest city in this country, we are focusing on a significant aspect of our economy, travel and tourism," said J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director of the Conference. "At this important summit, we have adopted a mayoral action plan to take back to Washington."

Summit participants endorsed a ten-point action plan that recommends —

• Establishing a Presidential Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism;
• Creating a destination marketing pilot program, which would provide funding to specific cities and states to undertake individual destination marketing initiatives;
• Increasing funding for the Market Development Cooperator Program, a $2 million Commerce Department matching grants program that would help cities and convention and visitors bureaus promote their destinations overseas;
• Enacting the American Travel Promotion Act, pending legislation to provide $100 million in matching grants to cities to stimulate the tourism industry;
• Working with the Airline industry to help restore competitiveness, accessibility, and affordability of air travel to domestic and international travelers, and
• Seeking restoration of tax incentives to spur business travel and urge Congress to make permanent the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit, powerful tools to help unskilled and disadvantaged workers receive job training for employment in the travel and tourism industries.

The complete mayors 10 point action plan can be found at usmayors.org.