Travel Industry Wants Federal Gulf Aid

The BP oil spill is likely to affect travel to the Gulf Coast for three years and cost the region $22.7 billion, Oxford Economics projects after analysis of 25 recent natural and manmade disasters.

“One of the most cost-effective ways to mitigate these damages is to immediately fund strategic marketing to counter misperceptions and encourage travel to the region,” Oxford director Adam Sacks said, suggesting an aggressive, federally funded, $500 million campaign to attract visitors to the Gulf.

To accompany the Oxford findings, the US Travel Association has proposed a 10-point plan, the Roadmap to Recovery, for the government to aid affected communities and change travel perceptions in an effort to save the region’s 400,000 travel-related jobs.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Lodging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.