CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

THE TESTIMONY OF

JEFFERY D. STEWART
VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, LOEWS HOTELS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, TRAVEL BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, TRADE AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE

HEARING ON THE AMERICAN TRAVEL PROMOTION ACT (H.R. 3321)
THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2002

I am Jeffrey Stewart, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for Loews Hotels and an Executive Committee member of the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR). Loews Hotels is headquartered in New York City and runs 17 distinctive properties in the U.S. and Canada, including the Regency Hotel in New York and Loews L’Enfant Plaza and the Jefferson Hotel here in Washington. The company employs more than 7,000 people across the United States. TBR is a CEO-based organization that represents the broad diversity of the U.S. travel and tourism industry, with more than 70 member corporations, associations and labor groups. I am here today to testify on behalf of both organizations in strong support of H.R. 3321, the American Travel Promotion Act.

Before I begin, I would like to thank Chairman Stearns and Ranking Member Towns for holding this hearing to examine this important legislation. I would also like to thank Congressmen Foley and Farr for their leadership in introducing H.R. 3321, and for their tireless efforts in their capacity as co-chairs of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus over the past five years to educate their fellow Members of Congress on the importance of travel and tourism to the U.S. economy.

As Congressman Foley and Farr have testified today, H.R. 3321 seeks to assist states, and by association, the U.S. travel and tourism industry, in their recovery from the dramatic economic impact they experienced due to the downturn in business and leisure travel in the days and weeks following the tragic events of September 11. It became apparent very quickly during that time that this was not simply an airline problem. When people stopped flying – or in many cases traveling by any mode of transportation – they were subsequently not staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, visiting museums or theme parks, renting cars or shopping. As a result, hundreds of thousands of hospitality industry workers were laid off or had their hours reduced, hospitality companies faced steep revenue shortfalls and state and local governments saw a rapid decline in tax revenue upon which they were particularly reliant in a recessionary economy. Though some segments of the travel and tourism industry are slowly beginning to recover, the recovery across the industry and the country is uneven.

We offer our enthusiastic support for H.R. 3321 because we believe the $100 million in matching grants to states that this legislation would provide to enhance their marketing efforts in the U.S. and throughout the world will provide a much-needed stimulus to states, local governments and the U.S. travel and tourism industry as a whole. However, TBR and Loews Hotels believe this legislation is also significant because it represents a valuable first step toward raising the country’s visibility as a desirable destination for business and leisure travelers.

With its size and regional diversity, the United States has much to offer foreign travelers. But instead of capitalizing on that broad array of options for travelers to market its “brand” overseas, it chooses to let others – the media, individual states and U.S. companies – define it. This is a missed opportunity that is beginning to catch up with us. In 1996, travel and tourism generated a balance of trade surplus of nearly $26 billion for the U.S. Today, the trade surplus has slipped to $17 billion. Moreover, our country continues to rank as the third most sought-after travel destination in the world – behind Spain and France.

What do these countries have that we don’t? Well, for one thing, they spend tens of millions of dollars to promote themselves to foreign visitors. In 2000, international visitors spent an estimated $106.5 billion in the U.S. It seems like simple good business sense – and good policy – to spend some money on promoting what the U.S. can offer to these visitors in an effort to retain and grow this powerful market share. Loews Hotels and TBR support the development of an aggressive brand marketing campaign, funded from both private and public sources, to promote the U.S. as a desirable travel destination. By and large, our industry does not need capital dollars – it needs marketing dollars.

In addition to creating jobs, generating tax revenues and spurring economic development, travel and tourism also increases awareness and understanding among diverse cultures and can help eradicate prejudices based on ignorance. The need to better define America abroad has become all too clear since the events of last fall. Let’s use the travel and tourism industry and the marketing of the United States as a travel destination as a way to combat misconceptions about us around the world.

More than a year-and-a-half ago, TBR called for the creation of a Presidential Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism, which is currently under consideration within the Bush Administration. Comprised of 35 presidentially appointed representatives of business, government and non-profit organizations with expertise in policy matters impacting tourism development, the Council would be the ideal body to explore ways that the travel and tourism industry can work for the benefit of our nation. The Council would advise the President on national tourism policy and would help ensure that travel and tourism receives a more sustained and vigorous policy focus at the federal level. It would also help coordinate the activities of the Administration and the many departments and agencies that impact travel and tourism.

By enacting the American Travel Promotion Act, Congress would be taking an important first step toward implementing a focused national strategy toward travel and tourism. This is something that this country needs now more than ever. I urge this Subcommittee to take action on H.R. 3321 and to consider expanding on this legislation to include funding for a U.S. destination marketing campaign.

I thank you again for this opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

A Presidential Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism

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