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ASTA News


08 AGC 2017 10 ASTA YPS


12 China Summit 15 View from the top


ASTA CAPITOL SUMMIT


Legislators hear from the frontline of American travel industry


ASTA, agency executives and


industry advocates converged in Washington D.C. for the inaugural Capitol Summit, the centerpiece of which was Legislative Day, hosted at the historic Watergate Hotel. More than 100 travel agents from across the country took their message to Capitol Hill, sharing ASTA’s stance on critical issues facing the corporate and leisure travel economy. Here are some of the issues presented at Legislative Day.


FAA reauthorization A major concern is that the FAA


reauthorization process will bring with it proposals to add to the disclosures travel agents are required to make to consumers when selling air travel. According to ASTA’s member survey, 62


percent of members’ client interactions take place over the phone or face-to-face, so a large number of these transactions would be impacted under an expanded disclosure regime. It’s worth considering that when the TSA was developing its rules for collecting Secure Flight data in 2008, for every phone transaction, it estimated an economic impact to travel agents of approximately $20 million per year, or $232 million over 10 years. Tere are ways to mitigate the impact


on travel agents of current and proposed consumer disclosures — most of which have to do with issues entirely outside of the agent’s control. Solutions range from exempting agents altogether, to only exempting phone and face-to-face transactions (where disclosures are particularly disruptive), to utilizing the Small Business Administration’s size


6 | asta.org


standards to ‘carve out’ small businesses, to creating a unified disclosure regime where consumers can be referred to a single website covering relevant DOT rules and airline policies.


Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 351/S. 1287) While the Obama Administration’s actions on Cuba were a step in the right direction, general tourist travel remains banned under current law. Regardless of the outcome of the Trump Administration changes to Cuba policy, ASTA believes it’s incumbent upon Congress to do away with the ‘travel ban’ once and for all, giving Americans the freedom to travel across the globe without restriction and allowing them to act as ambassadors of freedom and American values abroad. Lifting the t ban will also bring follow-on economic benefits to Cuba’s neighbors, and the travel industry that serves them, by


sparking demand for new passenger routes, tour operations and travel agent services. Te Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act,


introduced in the House by Reps. Mark Sanford and Jim McGovern, and in the Senate by Sens. Jeff Flake and Patrick Leahy, would repeal all provisions of law relating to U.S. residents’ travel to Cuba, saying simply that, ‘the President may not prohibit or otherwise regulate, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents.’


Travel Agent Retail Fairness Act (H.R. 2515)


Te Travel Agent Retail Fairness Act,


would strike travel agencies from a DOL regulatory ‘blacklist’, allowing them to claim the exemption if they meet the appropriate statutory criteria. Tis is a matter of basic fairness — H.R. 2515 will treat travel agents like any other retail business. See p17 for more on this issue.


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