Washington, D.C., April 24, 2009 – The
American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) delivered a letter to
President Barack Obama today in response to his Administration’s
announcement that the Veterans Administration is reducing its business
travel expenditures to find budget savings. This move, in
response to the Obama Administration’s pledge to find $100 million in
savings over the next 90 days, sets a bad precedent that will affect
the lodging industry and our national economic recovery, as well as
impede government operations.
“Our
industry is concerned that if other government departments follow the
lead of the Veterans Administration and arbitrarily cut government
business travel in an attempt to find quick budget savings, the
economic recovery your Administration has promised America will be
negatively affected and government operations will suffer as well.
“While the
Veterans Administration only spends a small portion of the federal
travel budget, further cutbacks in this area will lead to hourly wage
earner job losses in the $139 billion U.S.
lodging industry, as well as in the larger $738 billion U.S.
travel industry which employs 7.7 million workers across all its
operations. Business and government travelers help support the
nation’s lodging and travel infrastructure while they perform their
duties.
“Arbitrarily
cutting federal travel is a dangerous idea to push in times of a weak
economy. Federal travel dollars, while portrayed as a way
to save money, actually cost more than they will save. For each
dollar not being spent on a federal travel program there is one less
dollar that will be spent to hire new American lodging employees or
purchase hotel-related products created by American workers.
“Small
businesses will be directly impacted by reflexively cancelling
meetings. Forty-four
percent of the federal hotel spending was outside of the top 26 hotel
brands. Small businesses are the engine of economic growth in America,
and if our smaller properties are the unintended victims of
cost-savings measures, they will not be able to provide the new jobs
your economic recovery programs are promising. Some communities
are more highly dependent on federal room travel nights, such as a
hotel near a military base. These properties and communities are
very dependent on government travel, and to cut back on room nights
will be devastating to those communities.”
The
complete letter from AH&LA President and CEO Joseph McInerney is
available at: http://www.ahla.com/PressRelease_Archive.aspx?shmid=178.
Serving
the hospitality industry for
nearly a century, the American Hotel & Lodging Association
(AH&LA) is the sole national association representing all sectors
and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel
property members, hotel
companies, student and faculty
members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.,
AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill,
public relations and image management, education, research and
information, and other value-added services to provide bottom-line
savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging
industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and
additional cost-saving benefits to members. For more about
AH&LA, visit www.ahla.com.
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