OVERVIEW

The U.S. travel industry is uniquely affected by emergency situations such as the H1N1 Flu pandemic and similar viruses due to the potential impact they could have on domestic and international travel patterns.  The impact of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Canada in 2003 and the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico in the spring of 2009 both serve as lessons for why the U.S. travel community and all levels of government must be closely aligned as information is shared and travel policy decisions are made in response to such pandemics.

U.S. TRAVEL POSITION

U.S. Travel is committed to creating several new initiatives and programs to help protect America’s health, security and economic interests during a pandemic emergency, including:

• Development of a Travel Economic Assessment Module (TEAM) to generate data on travel-related jobs, tax revenue and economic activity that can be shared with federal officials to help inform their decision making;
• Creation of a “Pandemic Alert Network” of travel industry leaders who can quickly engage with government leaders during a crisis;
• Distribution of breaking alerts and health information to the broad travel community during a pandemic; and
• Creation of a “Feedback Forum” that enables the travel community to comment on the effectiveness of local, state and federal government decisions during a pandemic.

U.S. Travel also believes that the federal government must invest in the following activities in advance of and during any pandemic emergency:

• Establish clear communication channels between senior-level officials and industry leaders via the “Pandemic Alert Network” to ensure a robust and collaborative response by all members of the travel community;
• Establish standard metrics and protocols for the imposition and removal of domestic and international travel advisories in response to a pandemic;
• Integrate the travel community into regional and national-level training and preparedness exercises; and
• Aggressively respond to any unwarranted travel bans imposed on international travel to the United States.