Dear Travel Colleague:

I am pleased to inform you the U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Travel Promotion Act (again), keeping momentum moving for it being signed into law. The legislation now goes to the Senate for final consideration and passage before being sent to President Obama. The timeline for Senate passage is still unknown, but Senators Reid (D-NV), Dorgan (D-ND) and Ensign (R-NV) remain committed to doing everything in their power to quickly move the legislation.

As I indicated in a more detailed note earlier this week, procedural challenges required that the legislation once more gain approval from both the House and Senate. The Travel Promotion Act has now passed the House three times in the past 14 months, and the Senate in September already approved the bill by a strong bipartisan vote, 79-19. As such, we are confident we will gain final passage of this legislation, which will do so much to help our economy and the travel community.

Special thanks go to U.S. Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for making passage of the legislation a top priority. We look forward to enactment of this important legislation by the Senate, and will keep you up-to-date as we gather more information.

Roger Dow
President and CEO
U.S. Travel Association