Nicely attends 2nd annual Travel Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.
Parkersburg, West Virginia – Greater Parkersburg Convention & Visitors Bureau President Steve Nicely along with hundreds of other travel industry leaders from across the United States gathered in Washington, D.C. September 26-27 to urge federal policymakers to take action on several travel-related priority issues. Nicely was invited to attend the event by the West Virginia Division of Tourism as the representative of the West Virginia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.
The industry’s top three legislative issues included: the creation of an international travel promotion program to encourage overseas travel to the U.S.; appropriate implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) with continued oversight from Congress; and increased funding for the nation’s transportation infrastructure system.
“With the vast number of issues before them, the multitudes of people trying to get their attention, and the Presidential race, having a mass gathering such as the Travel Leadership Summit is much more effective at getting tourism’s message to Members of Congress,” Nicely stated. “All three issues impact tourism in West Virginia and this area, so it is important that the West Virginia Congressional delegation and their staffs hear this directly from the people they represent.”
Nicely also commented that the hundreds of tourism delegates from across the United States all carried the same message to Members of Congress and their staffs over the two-day event. “With our distinctive name badges, it was impressive to see tourism industry representatives throughout the Capitol and the buildings that house the Congressional offices,” Nicely said. “The West Virginia Congressional delegation is very influential, so meeting with them was important.”
Hosted by the Travel Industry Association and the Travel Business Roundtable, the 2nd annual summit allowed Nicely and other travel industry grassroots advocates to meet one-on-one with their Members of Congress September 26 during dinners and receptions around D.C. The delegates also met Thursday with Members of Congress and their staffs in their Capitol Hill offices.
Presenters during the two-day event included Mayor Douglas H. Palmer of Trenton, N.J. and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM). Under Palmer’s leadership, the USCM recently adopted travel promotion as a principle for their 10-point plan, “Strong Cities, Strong Families for a Strong America.” In addition, CNN commentator Paul Begala and host of MSNBC’s Tucker, Tucker Carlson, spoke to industry representatives.
To learn more details concerning the Travel Promotion Act 2007 visit http://www.tia.org/govtaffairs/legislative.html
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Posted on: September 28, 2007
