Urge Congress to Act on Coronavirus Economic Relief

Travel employers and workers have been by far the hardest hit of any U.S. industry. Huge numbers of travel businesses have not been able to access earlier rounds of relief passed by Congress.

Prior to COVID-19, travel and tourism supported employment for one in 10 Americans.

But more than half of the 15.8 million pre-pandemic jobs supported by travel were wiped out between the onset of coronavirus and May 1.

Travel spending in the U.S. is projected to drop by more than half a trillion dollars this year alone. Clearly, this course is unsustainable.

The need for relief is urgent. With each passing moment, odds increase that more businesses, large and small, will shut their doors forever and take their jobs with them.

Workers and business owners in the travel sector are struggling to understand why leaders in Washington have yet to advance meaningful legislative relief that works for travel businesses to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the evidence of acute pain is so clear.

At a bare minimum, Congress must pass a stand-alone measure that expands and enhances the Paycheck Protection Program—the one program that has worked and which still has over $130 billion dollars left that can be utilized to help save these businesses.

While a broad package is urgently needed to extend relief to travel businesses, it is irresponsible for Congress to leave without passing an extension of important programs—such as PPP—that still have dollars available to help those who want to keep people employed and provide a lifeline to businesses.

Doing so will help prevent a prolonged U.S. recession even once the pandemic has subsided.Make it stand out.