according to the YouCut website — could result in $180 million in savings over 10 years.
As it turned out, the program sur-
vived, failing to garner enough YouCut votes from the public. But how did CTP feel about being targeted for removal when it was barely a year
“We know travel promotion has its critics. We know it’s an unending battle to protect the program to the best of our ability.”
old? They’re not saying. The Travel Promotion Act specifically prohibits CTP from lobbying, so the program referred questions to the U.S. Travel Association — which was happy to talk about the YouCut threat. “I don’t think anything’s a surprise at this point,” said Geoff Freeman, U.S. Travel’s executive vice president. “You have to be prepared, knowing on any issue in Washington there are strong opinions on both sides. We know travel promotion has its critics. We know it’s an unending battle to protect the program to the best of our ability, educating those critics as to the value of the program.” U.S. Travel helped beat back the threat by rallying its travel-promotion allies and “activating the industry on a very targeted basis,” Freeman said. He added: “That’s not to say that we’re out of the woods. The message here is that we’re on the master cut list that certain Republicans have. We need to get off that list. That’s the job.” n