BUSINESS NEWS
The US Travel
Association’s Geoff Freeman says: ‘We refuse to let travel be deprioritised’
US Travel chief stresses need to ‘flip the script’
The White House ‘sees the value of travel’, Geoff Freeman tells Robin Searle Freeman said he was “especially
The chief executive of the US Travel Association believes the sector is gaining cut-through with the White House, but warned there is a need to “flip the script” to avoid America being seen as an unwelcoming destination. In a speech at the IPW conference
in Chicago this month, Geoff Freeman said: “It is no secret, in some parts of the world there is a growing perception that visiting the US might be difficult or even unwelcoming. “We need to flip the script. We
need to be loud and clear. America is open for business. We want your visit and we’re ready to welcome the world.”
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encouraged” by progress on air traffic modernisation and planned improvements to the border process that suggested the White House “sees the value of travel and is interested in being a partner”. However, he warned progress was
“only a starting point” and added: “We refuse to let travel be deprioritised.” Speaking to Travel Weekly during
the conference, Freeman said the industry had become “collateral damage” from rhetoric around travel bans and a desire to secure borders. “There isn’t disinterest in travel in the US – in fact, the opposite,”
he explained. “The government is enforcing policies it has long had, but the administration has not been as quick as it could be to clear up misperceptions.” Freeman added: “There are
allies for the travel industry and the president and vice-president want people to come to America. We saw that clearly with the launch of the World Cup Task Force and I was in the room with them for that launch. “We want those leaders to say they want legitimate travellers. They were
Continued on page 54
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