The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Majority Leader Speaker of the House of Representatives United States Senate United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Charles Schumer The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader Minority Leader United States Senate United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 March 20, 2020 Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy: We are America’s travel industry, an economic sector that directly employs 9 million American workers and supports a total of 15.8 million jobs. The travel and tourism industry—including but not limited to transportation, lodging, recreation and entertainment, food and beverage, meetings, conferences and business events, travel advisors, destination marketers—is comprised of businesses of all sizes, but the vast majority, 83%, are small businesses. Together we are grappling with the immediate and devastating impact of the current health crisis. Furloughs of American travel workers are happening right now. Travel to and within the United States has essentially ground to a stop due to the actions needed to halt the spread of coronavirus. Aggressive financial relief is needed immediately. Taking care of our employees will always be our top priority, but the hard fact is we cannot continue supporting them through this disaster without relief. To that end, we greatly appreciate and strongly support provisions in the ‘‘Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’’ that provide: • $300 billion for enhanced Small Business Administration (SBA) loans distributed through an expedited process and can be partially forgiven for employee retention; and • Tax relief to mitigate economic losses, including deferral of tax liability, extension of the Net Operating Loss deduction, and delay of estimated tax payments. Unfortunately, the unprecedented shutdown of the travel economy requires an even greater and more aggressive response to prevent millions of Americans from losing their jobs. New analysis from Tourism Economics in conjunction with the U.S. Travel Association revealed that 4.6 million Americans—50% of the travel industry’s workforce—could lose their jobs within six weeks, by the end of April. That will take unemployment to 6.3%. 1 This loss of jobs will simply not be solved by getting people to travel in the near term. We are calling on Washington to take immediate action on the following recommendations and include in the ‘‘Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act”: 1. $150 billion in Travel Employment Grants: Through the U.S. Department of Treasury, provide $150 billion in grants to travel-dependent businesses to maintain employment at pre-coronavirus levels. Severely impacted travel businesses, which are empty or shuttered in the interest of public health, should not be shut off from grants or loan forgiveness to retain employees, simply because they employ too many people to qualify for the CARE Act’s SBA support. 2. Provide greater financial assistance to severely impacted businesses by increasing the aggregate loan amount for severely distressed industries above $150 billion and providing the assistance through unsecured loans and loan guarantees. Businesses and employees who, through no fault of their own, are about to lose everything should not have to offer up what’s left in order secure the financing they need to survive the crisis; and 3. Provide at least $10 billion in airport grants to pay debt service, maintain operations, and provide critical services, along with ensuring additional support for airport businesses and essential aviation service providers. The entire aviation ecosystem that powers commercial air travel must be supported. Time is of the essence. Immediate Congressional action is needed to protect travel workers who, through no fault of their own, are experiencing significant economic harm from this national disaster. The goal of this legislation must be to ensure that the travel workforce can emerge from this crisis strong and intact, so they can power the economic recovery. Thank you for your immediate consideration of this request. Signed, 1 Hotel Central Park 24-7 Hotel Management Home 1000 Islands International Tourism 25 30 Espresso 5 Star Helicopter tours Council 29 Taylor Street, LLC 5171 LLC 12 Mile Creek Winery 2jHolla 5A Incentive Planners 1212 Germantown 3 Dips Ice Cream Shoppe 5th & Taylor 13 Bones LLC 30 by Ninety Theatre, Inc. 72TravelCo 145 Mulberry Dining 30-30 Hospitality Group, Inc. 76 Carriage Company, Inc 15 STEPS 34 Raceway W. Burlington, Iowa 78th Street Studios 17 Hundred 90 Inn & Restaurant 36 North Management 7M Travel Holdings 1922 On The Square 360 Bistro 8 of Eight Strategies, LLC 1Berkshire 3i Advertising LLC 9/11 Memorial and Museum 1st Choice Cabin Rentals, LLC 3rd and Lindsley Nashville 9/11 Tribute Museum 1st Choice Portable Staging, LLC 3rd Turn Brewing 900 Management 21c Museum Hotel Lexington 417Meetings 901 2 504 LLC 21c Museum Hotel Nashville 45 Bistro 98 Asian Bistro 21c Museum Hotels 4Top Hospitality A Christmas Story House & 23rd Street Brewery 5 O’Clock Somewhere Rental Museum 2 A Little Local Flavor ACE Adventure Resort Association A Luxury Van’s, SUV’s & Bus Tours Ace Limousine and Airport Adventures by the Sea, Inc A Marshall Hospitality Service Adventures on the Gorge A Paradise Property Management Ace Taxi Service, Inc. Adventureworks A Royal Coach Limousine ACF Adverbs A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours Acme Feed and Seed Advertising Specialty Services A Tour of Possibilities Acorn Lodge Aerial Agents, LLC A-1 Limousine, Inc. Action Angler AERO Marketing group A-1 Mr. Limo, Inc. Adagio Massage Co. & Spa Aertson Hotel A. Marshall Hospitality Adaland Mansion af&co. A. T. Hun Art Gallery Adams Communications AFAR Media A.Ray Hospitality ADARA, Inc. AFCO Bakeries A.V. Rental Services, Inc. Addison Hotels LP Affairs To Be Remembered, Inc. A&G RV Camper Rentals Adele’s Nashville Affinity Management A+ Parking Services Adena Mansion and Gardens Aflac AAA East Central Society AFPC AAA Hotel Company Adirondack Folk School, Inc. Afterglow Lake Resort AAA Parking Adirondack Regional Chamber of Agency for the Performing Arts AAA Red Lodge Rentals Commerce Agency Rye AAA Travel Adirondack Regional Tourism Agrileum AACA Museum, Inc. Council Aiken Center for the Arts AADARSH HOSPITALITY LLC Adirondack Sports Complex Aiken County Tourism Aashka Hospitality Group Corp Adler Planetarium Ailevon Pacific Aviation ABC Global Hospitality, LLC Admirals Inn Consulting Abendblume Inn Adrenaline Monkey Aimbridge Hospitality Abercrombie & Kent USA Adrift Hotels, SPC Airports Council International - Abigail Kirsch Catering Advanced Reservation Systems, North America Abigails Apparel Inc. AirTahoe LLC Abilene Convention & Visitors Advanced Staging Productions AJR Media Group Bureau Advantage Nashville Akron-Canton Airport Abingdon Virginia Convention & Advent Transportation Services Akron-Canton Jellystone Park Visitors Bureau LLC Akron/Summit Convention & Abington - Jefferson Health Adventure 16 Visitors Bureau About Face Cosmetics & Day Spa Adventure Holdings LLC Alabama Black Belt Adventures Academic Travel Consulting Adventure Paradise Resorts Association Academic Travel Services Adventure Paragliding Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Acadiana Center for the Arts Adventure Park USA Association ACC Adventure Photo Tours Inc Alabama Music Hall of Fame ACCESS Destination Services Adventure Science Center Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality ACCESS NY Metro Adventure Sports in Hershey Association Accor Adventure Tours Alabama Tourism Department Accu-Tech Adventure Travel Trade Alabama Travel Council 3 Alabama Veterans Museum Aloft Dallas Arlington Travel Aladdin Shriners Aloft Green Bay American Flags and Poles Alamance County Tourism Aloft Hotels American Gear Manufacturers Development Board Aloft Las Colinas Association Alarehotels Aloft Milwaukee Downtown Hotel American Guest LLC Alaska Travel Industry Association Aloft Nashville West End American Heritage RV Park Albany Convention and Visitors Aloft South Bend American Home Furnishings Hall Bureau ALON Marketing Group of Fame Albert’s Lodge at Mt. Mitchell Alpaca Farm and Fiber Studio American Hospitality Management Albion Hotel - Miami Beach Alpena Area Convention & Visitors American Hotel & Lodging Alchemia Communications Group Bureau Association Alexander+Roberts Alpenhof Lodge American Icon Brewery Alexandre Mouton House/ Alpha Delights American Indian Alaska Native Lafayette Museum Alpine Helen White County Tourism Association Algoma Area Chamber of Convention Visitors Bureau American Museum of Natural Commerce Alterra Property Group History ALHI Alton RV Park American National Bank of Texas Alice Austen House Alum Creek Marina American National Processing Inc. Alisa Bailey Consulting Always Planned, LLC American Pharmacists Association ALIX BAPTISTE Art Gallery Amador Council of Tourism American Prohibition Museum All Aboard Sailing Amana Colonies Convention and American Society of Association All Occasions Party Rental Visitors Bureau Executives All Seasons Groveland Inn Amarillo Convention & Visitor American Society of Travel All Seasons Properties, LLC Council Advisors All Things Travel Ambassador Inn and Suites American Wilderness All Ways Entertainment, Inc. Ambridge Hospitality Campground All-A-Flutter Farms LLC AMC Institute Americana Music Association Allegany County Tourism Amelia Island Convention & Americana Vineyards