The U.S. Travel Industry’s Advocacy Infrastructure Is Obsolete
Photo Credit: The power gap in the travel industry has been loudly exposed. Skift
Skift Take
The travel industry’s advocacy groups were built to lobby Congress, but the executive branch has all the power. The mismatch was undeniable this past week.
I have been saying for years that the travel industry has a power deficit, that it is the world’s largest industry with the smallest institutional voice, and that this gap would become visible at exactly the wrong moment. This past week was that week.
On March 23, the U.S. Travel Association put out a statement telling Congress not to board their flights home until TSA officers were paid. It was muscular language, the kind that makes you think someone in Washington is actually fighting for the $2.9 trillion industry that funds its operation.
Four days later, on March 27, the same organization put out a statement commending President Trump for stepping in to pay those same officers, the officers who were unpaid because of a shutdown the administration precipitated, and called on Congress to adopt “President Trump’
