"Travel" is synonymous with "jobs." That was the message that Geoff Freeman, chief operating officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association, delivered to Congress yesterday in testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.
Part of a panel that was titled "Where the Jobs Are: Promoting Tourism to America," Freeman stressed that the travel industry is adding jobs to the U.S. economy faster than any other sector. Therefore, he argued, pro-travel legislation should be a priority for Congress as it considers future economic policy.
According to Freeman — whose testimony covered a variety of topics, including travel promotion, visa reform, aviation security, and government meetings and conferences — travel industry employment fell by nearly half a million during the Great Recession, from February 2008 to December 2009. Since 2009, however, the industry has added 277,000 jobs.
"To date, the travel industry has regained more than half (56 percent) of the jobs lost during the downturn," Freeman said during his testimony. "In fact, the pace of job growth in the travel industry has exceeded the rest of the economy by 33 percent. A study released last year by the McKinsey Global Institute projects the leisure and hospitality sector could add between 2.1 million and 3.3 million new jobs in this decade because the industry is labor intensive, driven by consumer spending and safe from risks of outsourcing overseas."
To read Freeman's testimony in its entirety, download it from the U.S. Travel Association's website.