The U.S. Travel Association has launched another initiative to build more strong relationships with members of Congress, by encouraging travel companies and travel professionals to create those ties at the local level in their states and congressional districts.
The campaign, called Travel Blitz, is part of a broad ongoing effort by U.S. Travel to keep members of Congress informed about the industry and its economic importance to their communities and to the nation.
To that end, travel companies and destination officials are being encouraged to use various tactics to strengthen their relationships with their elected officials, such as hosting travel industry roundtables or offering “back-of-house” tours at airports, hotels or convention centers.
Recognizing that many members of Congress have Facebook and Twitter accounts, the blitz will also try to leverage the power of social media to reinforce the message.
US Travel’s vice president for government relations, Patricia Rojas, said during a media call that a goal of the effort is to build long-term relationships with “travel champions” in Congress who understand the industry. A key step in that process is to insure that that elected officials know the depth of the travel community in their districts, she said.
The campaign has been dubbed Travel Blitz to build on an analogy with football, whereby U.S. Travel designs a playbook, and the association’s membership runs the plays in their local districts.