The travel industry, hit hard by the public uproar over lavish company getaways, has been pushing back, and its message is essentially this: You say junket, we say jobs.
In a lobbying effort spearheaded by the U.S. Travel Association, industry representatives have met with President Obama, released a flurry of statistics about the economic contribution of meetings and events ($101 billion in spending, one million jobs) and have even established a 'rapid-response war room' to address 'false accusations against legitimate travel activities.'
'It's causing a huge unintended consequence - namely, all those organizations that have received government assistance, and many that haven't, are canceling meetings like crazy because they don't want to be seen as excessive,' said Roger Dow, president and chief executive of the travel association.
The public anger started to rise last fall, when the American International Group held a luxury retreat for employees shortly after getting $85 billion in bailout funds. Since then, banks that received federal money have found themselves in the cross hairs.
According to the travel association's survey of hotel companies representing a fifth of the market, $220 million in room revenue was lost in January and February from event cancellations. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide said it has booked 40 percent less group revenue at its company-operated hotels so far in 2009, which has meant eliminating 6,000 employees, a 10 percent cut in staff.
'Our cancellations are up 50 percent,' said Frits van Paasschen, Starwood's president and chief executive. 'And when a group cancels, they leave a considerable amount of money on the table.'
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Source - New York Times
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