Senior executives from several hotel companies and travel associations met Tuesday afternoon at the White House with President Donald Trump and other administration officials to discuss the effect the coronavirus outbreak is having on the U.S. travel industry and push for a relief package.
U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow, American Hotel & Lodging Association president and CEO Chip Rogers and others met with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and others.
Dow presented a report prepared by Oxford Economics and its Tourism Economics division predicting that decreased travel due to Covid-19 could inflict an $809 billion hit on the U.S. economy and eliminate 4.6 million travel-related U.S. jobs this year, according to a statement from USTA.
"Travel-related businesses employ 15.8 million Americans, and if they can't afford to keep their lights on, they can't afford to keep paying their employees," Dow said in the statement, noting that 83 percent of travel employers are small businesses. "Without aggressive and immediate disaster relief steps, the recovery phase is going to be much longer and more difficult, and the lower rungs of the economic ladder are going to feel the worst of it."
The industry group urged the administration to consider $150 billion in overall relief for the broader travel sector. Suggestions included establishing a travel workforce stabilization fund, providing an emergency liquidity facility for travel businesses, and optimizing and modifying U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs to support small businesses and their employees.
AHLA's Rogers during a post-meeting press briefing said the $150 billion would be "for the hotel industry, the hotels themselves and employees, and suppliers specifically for the hotel industry." USTA's Dow added that "you would easily need another $150 billion for the other parts of the industry. All the other [sectors] that make up the rest are just as important. We need stabilization and funds across the board, fast."
Dow and Rogers and other members of the press briefing said that today's White House visit was the culmination of meetings industry leaders have had the past three weeks with members of the administration, the Senate and the House, and all agreed that the President understood the severity of the situation.
"It is unknown how long this situation will last, but it's already had a more severe impact on the hotel industry than 9/11 and the 2008 recession combined," Rogers said, noting that hotels already are laying off staff and closing and more likely will close in the coming days. "Occupancy has already fallen to between 10 percent and 20 percent in major markets nationwide."
The Oxford analysis also projected that total 2020 spending on travel in the U.S., including transportation, lodging, retail, attractions and restaurants, would plunge 31 percent year over year, representing $355 billion. That is more than six times the impact of 9/11 on travel sector revenue. The estimated losses by the travel industry alone are severe enough to push the U.S. into a protracted recession, expected to last at least three quarters, with the second quarter of 2020 being the low point, the report estimated.