Taking the scenic route.

It's been a somewhat bumpy ride since the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism. Still, industry leaders hold out hope for some bold new industry initiatives.

Industry leaders - including association - executives from all corners of the country gathered at the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism (WHCTT), held in Washington, D.C., October 30-31. As an event, the conference marked the culmination of more than a year of preparation on the part of the United States Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA) for a formal, national conversation about what the industry needs to reposition itself (see "Paving the Way for Travel and Tourism" in the February 1995 issue of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT). It also launched a platform of priority goals - among them, to evolve the now defunct USTTA into a public-private partnership that will better equip states and regions to promote tourism to their towns, cities, parks, and attractions. (USTTA, operating on what industry leaders considered a pathetic level of federal funding, was forced to close its doors earlier this year when funds were eliminated as part of federal budget negotiations.)

While the WHCTT announced the necessary groundwork for this and other goals, it saved the nitty-gritties - such as how to fund these proposed initiatives - for later. Still, it was a good show of both industry diversity - with more than 1,700 delegates from all 50 states representing hotels, convention and visitors bureaus, travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, and industry associations - and of industry unity in terms of concerns and hopes to move travel and tourism into the number one spot as national employer. (According to The Tourism Works For America Report, 1995, published by the Tourism Works for America Council, Washington, D.C., the travel and tourism industry currently ranks second, employing more than 14.3 million people.)

Charting a course

On the heels of the conference, an implementation team composed of 39 federal and industry leaders formed to further discuss and determine how to put forth the priority initiatives presented at the conference. Sandra Fulton, vice president of industry relations for Opryland Hospitality and Attractions/Gaylord Entertainment, Nashville, and current chair of the Travel Industry Association of America, Washington, D.C., is co-chair of the implementation team along with U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism Greg Farmer. The implementation team, whose work is scheduled for completion by April 1996, is concentrating on three main tasks, according to Fulton:

1. Developing the structure for a public-private partnership to drive the efforts of the industry, Congress, federal agencies involved in tourism development, and state and municipal travel and tourism organizations to achieve the cross-cutting goals adopted at the conference. (Legislation proposing a federally sanctioned - though not federally funded - entity has already been submitted by U.S. Representative Toby Roth (R-WI).)

2. Creating a national tourism organization - in essence, the marketing arm of this proposed public-private enterprise - that would likewise be government-sanctioned but private-sector-driven. The organization would provide a unified theme for national marketing efforts to promote the United States as a premiere destination in the international travel and tourism arena.

3. Establishing a strategic plan to implement the remaining objectives set forth at the WHCTT. Already under way is the formation of the National Traveler Safety Team (NTST). Jim Host, executive vice president of the National Tour Association, Lexington, Kentucky, is chairing the team, which has the mission of improving the traveler experience by providing a safe environment in which to travel.

In its inaugural meeting in January, NTST approved a number of actions, including establishing a nationwide toll-free multilingual emergency help line, which will be the equivalent of a "911" for tourists. Travelers who have a medical emergency, require the services of a police officer, or who are lost and need directions will be able to call one number and speak with an operator to receive assistance. At present, NTST has sent out a request for proposals among telecommunications companies to establish the program, dubbed "U.S. Cares," and has set its sights for a fully operational help line to be in place by the end of this year.

Another NTST initiative includes compilation of a resource kit to send to tourism centers across the nation. The kit will contain three primary pieces: a model community safety plan, a crisis management communication strategy, and a set of best practices in traveler safety programs already in place by various groups and communities. NTST has also named a public relations subcommittee to combat negative perceptions (specifically in the Germany, Japan, and United Kingdom markets) of the United States as an unsafe travel destination. Because traveler safety is of major concern to most travel and tourism industry groups, NTST expects volunteer support and funding for these and other NTST initiatives to come from within the industry, with various groups becoming paid members of the team. (See sidebar, "Other WHCTT Objectives," for additional proposals set forth at the conference.)

Taking in the full view

Industry leaders and key administration officials - including President Clinton - who were gathered at the conference acknowledged the plight of the U.S. travel and tourism industry. While many verbalized their despair about the decline of the United States as an economic player in inbound tourism and its failure to boast what it has to offer (according to USTTA statistics, the United States ranks 33rd in terms of national tourism promotion budgets), even larger numbers of conference delegates cheered the country's variety of travel attractions and rich cultural experiences and pointed to the industry's potential.

But for all the excitement and enthusiasm generated by the event, some within the meetings and conventions industry may have felt the conference did next to nothing to highlight the economic impact association and corporate meetings have on destinations throughout the country or to address specific concerns of business and group travelers. ASAE President R. William Taylor, CAE, says it's difficult to gauge what real effect the conference will have on the meetings and conventions industry, since the emphasis was on inbound tourism. If the implementation of conference goals are successful, however, we may enjoy some increase in the number of international attendees to association meetings, says Taylor.

According to the 1994 Economic Impact Study conducted by Deloitte & Touche for the Convention Liaison Council, Washington, D.C., conventions, expositions, meetings, and incentives travel in the United States accounts for more than one third of the hotel industry's estimated $66 billion annual revenue. In 1994, it generated more than $12.3 billion in sales and income taxes and accounted for $82.8 billion in direct spending.

So why were association meetings and trade shows and the like left out of the economic impact picture painted at the WHCTT? According to Fulton, they weren't.

"In a sense, everyone was left out of the conference as an individual for the purpose of coming together as a whole," says Fulton, who estimates that her own company derives 90 percent of its business from meetings- and conventions-related activity. "I've no doubt that the recommendations, if implemented successfully, will benefit every sector," says Fulton.

Ed Griffin, CAE, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Meeting Professionals International, Dallas, agrees. The purpose was to "show a solidarity the industry has never accomplished," says Griffin. "I think we achieved that in spades." He adds, "There are derivative benefits that the meetings industry can take advantage of."

Jonathan Tisch, president and CEO of Loews Hotels, New York City, says the WHCTT achieved one of its primary goals - "to ensure that the country better understands the industry and the huge jobs generator that it is."

While there was no mention of the specific concerns related to the meetings industry, says Griffin, "we must be broad-minded enough to see the overall results."

What is upsetting to Griffin is the abrupt cut in funding to USTTA. "It's difficult to win the game when [Congress] takes the team off the field." Now, says Griffin, it's up to industry leaders to fight and to join with the public sector in achieving WHCTT goals.

According to John Marks, president of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, "The looming question for the implementation team is 'How does the future get funded?' And without the answer, very little will happen." It has always been the intent of the WHCTT that the private sector would leverage funds against some sort of government support to industry activities, says Marks, who hopes that key government leaders will view Support of the industry as an investment for the future.

Whatever does ultimately result from the WHCTT in terms of a public-private partnership or the funding of WHCTT-proposed initiatives, the consensus of industry leaders at this juncture of the journey is that no one knows for sure just what lies around the bend, and it might be a while before we arrive.

RELATED ARTICLE: Other WHCTT Objectives

In addition to the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism objectives referenced in the main article are these recommendations:

* Better communicate the economic power of the industry as a generator of quality jobs and tax revenues and as the nation's number one service export (The Tourism Works for America Report cites travel and tourism as a $417 billion industry, generating $58 billion in 1994 in federal, state, and local taxes).

* Provide a reliable, realistic accounting of the expansion of travel- and tourism-related businesses in the new North American Standard Industrial Classification System.

* Develop a strategic plan for curriculum and tourism-related educational programs, including apprenticeship opportunities.

* Ensure that the country's natural, historic, and cultural resources are preserved by identifying regional conservation and management strategies.

* Leverage technology to expedite and simplify federal inspection procedures.

* Ensure the proper funding to maintain quality traveling infrastructures through the use of transportation trust funds.

* Promote and facilitate international travel to the United States by reducing barriers to entry, improving customer services at ports of entry, and making permanent the Visa Waiver Pilot Program.

Karla Boyers is associate editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT.