The loss to the U.S. travel economy in terms of lost revenue and opportunity cost of the federal government shutdown has exceeded $1 billion, according to a U.S. Travel Association estimate, the advocacy group said Wednesday.
The U.S. government was shut down Oct. 1 after Congress was unable to reach a budget deal. The consequences have begun to affect the business travel industry, perhaps most visibly in flight delays triggered by staffing shortages among air traffic controllers, who are employees of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and who are not paid during the shutdown.
About 2,900 U.S. flights were delayed as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to data from FlightAware, compared with nearly 3,600 on Tuesday and more than 6,100 on Monday.
The effect of the shutdown go beyond flight delays, as U.S. Travel noted Wednesday.
"This shutdown is doing real, irreversible damage," U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a statement. "Travelers are facing longer [Transportation Security Administration] lines and flight delays. Airports are reducing flights and we've seen entire control towers go dark. The longer this drags on, the worse the cascade of damage will be—for local communities, for small businesses and for the country. Congress needs to act now and reopen the government."
U.S. Travel cited a 2023 study of a U.S. government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019 conducted by Tourism Economics in developing its estimate.
In that study, Tourism Economics determined that the 2019 shutdown, which lasted for 35 days, "shaved 1.2 percent off January 2019 air passenger activity and 2.8 percent off rail activity" due to factors including air traffic controller and airport screener absenteeism as well as Federal Railroad Administration furloughs.
Applying those metrics to today's travel volume, along with a U.S. Travel-developed estimate that reduced government travel and closed government-run attractions costs $100 million per day, brings the estimated monthly loss of a shutdown to the travel economy of a bit shy of $4.2 billion.
"Travel keeps America moving," Freeman said. "When travel is delayed and services are disrupted, the ripple effects reach every corner of our country."
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