What will the passage of the COVID-19 Relief Package known as the CARES Act mean for the U.S. Travel Industry? The President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, Roger Dow, issued the following statement sharing his views:

“The Phase 3 relief package passed by Congress this week is a great first step in this process, and comes at a time when the American travel industry is facing catastrophic economic disaster, with almost six million travel-supported jobs expected to be lost in the next five weeks.

“We call upon the Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to expedite the rulemaking process—within 10 days—to get this money out the door into the hands of those who so desperately need it. Businesses across America are being forced to shut their doors to customers and employees alike, and there is no time to wait.

“While the CARES Act represents tremendous progress toward keeping our economy functioning at this challenging and unprecedented moment, it is clear that more will need to be done to protect the livelihoods of American workers. This relief package will help create a bridge for some time, but there are some that this won’t help—and the longer it takes to implement, the more jobs will be lost. We stand ready to work with Congress and the administration to ensure that the economy recovers as quickly as possible once the worst of the health crisis is finally past.”

Previously, the U.S. Travel Association had predicted to lose around 4.6 million jobs in the next 6 weeks because of the virtual shutdown of travel that is being caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to research prepared for U.S. Travel by Tourism Economics. The numbers highlight the need for urgent action by the federal U.S. government.

More than 6,000 travel industry and related organizations on Friday sent a joint letter to congressional leadership requesting aggressive and immediate financial relief in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

“The Phase 3 relief package passed by Congress this week is a great first step in this process, and comes at a time when the American travel industry is facing catastrophic economic disaster, with almost six million travel-supported jobs expected to be lost in the next five weeks.
“We call upon the Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to expedite the rulemaking process—within 10 days—to get this money out the door into the hands of those who so desperately need it.
We stand ready to work with Congress and the administration to ensure that the economy recovers as quickly as possible once the worst of the health crisis is finally past.