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NEW YORK — At the NYU International Hospitality Investment Conference, Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch and Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson urgently lobbied against the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate funding for Brand USA and impose travel bans on some countries.
Tisch, the conference’s chair, evoked the so-called “Lost Decade” – when increased security measures hurt international travel to the U.S. after 9/11 — in arguing against travel bans. He said that restrictions could halt more than six years of growth in U.S. lodging demand.
Tisch also appeared to dismiss the idea that President Donald Trump’s background in the hotel industry would be a benefit to the sector.
“Words matter. Perceptions matter. The way this administration’s policies are portrayed around the world matters,” said Tisch during his opening remarks from New York’s Marriott Marquis on Monday. “We shouldn’t presume [administration members] understand what we do for a living. If we as individuals don’t speak up to inform, educate and persuade, who will?”
Tisch also lobbied against federal budget cuts that would eliminate Brand USA, the public-private partnership created by Congress in 2010 to promote the U.S. as a tourist destination. He argued that cutting Brand USA would widen the U.S. trade deficit, which in recent years was narrowed by the surplus in the form of inbound travel spending compared to what Americans spend overseas.
Sorenson, who oversees the world’s largest hotel company and like Tisch has cautioned against restrictive policies proposed by Trump, took a similar tone to Tisch’s. By enforcing travel bans, the U.S. runs the risk of driving people away.
“When you think about doing business in the rest of the world, we may pay a price for our American heritage,” said Sorenson. “What we’ll probably see is global travel will continue to grow, and the U.S. share will decline because we’ll see more people go to Europe and other destinations where the reception appears to be warmer.”
President Trump implemented a 90-day travel ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, but the executive order was blocked by a federal judge. A revised ban in March also was blocked. An appeals court denied reinstatement of the ban in April.
Last week, the president asked the Supreme Court to rule in favor the ban, then doubled down on those efforts in the wake of the terror attacks in London.
Sorenson and Tisch cited anecdotal evidence of groups canceling trips because of the ban, though they didn’t have any statistics supporting the theory that the bans reduced room demand. Amanda Hite, CEO of hospitality consultant STR, said that her company reduced its forecast for U.S. revenue growth for this year, though she didn’t attribute that reduction to proposed travel policies.
NYU panelist Homi Vazifdar, managing director at Canyon Equity, took a more hopeful tone, saying that Trump may “come around” like President Obama did. Vazifdar recalled friction between the Obama administration and the travel industry early in his term.
“When he said rich men are bad, Gucci is bad, Las Vegas is bad, we all went running for the hills. We really thought he was a jerk,” Vazifdar said. “And then he came around.”
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
