Travel Execs Upbeat About Prospects Under a Biden-Harris White House


Skift Take

The travel industry needed a new reason to believe after months of enduring the body blows from coronavirus, coming on top of four bizarro years of a president who seemed to have little regard for his former industry. Read what executives had to say about the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

For months, U.S. travel executives have hung on to words like reset, pivot, and redo to put the best face on a pandemic that has decimated their businesses and employees since March. They hoped these expressions were more than just bromides. But one large cloud remained: the lack of direction and a plan from the White House that many felt delayed any meaningful recovery from the crisis. That's why the history-making election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, confirmed on Saturday, and Kamala Harris as vice president elicited renewed feelings of optimism from travel leaders, not just here in the U.S. but across the globe. That was not the case four years ago when the surprise victory of Donald Trump left the travel industry less than enthused with deep worries over immigration, which of course played out later with a Muslim travel ban and other policies. Executives over the weekend seemed glad the Trump era will be behind them. Tripadvisor co-founder a