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Meetings March on Washington

On April 10–11, the U.S. Travel Association and partners including Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) will gather for Destination: Capitol Hill, which will bring together professionals from all segments of the travel industry to Washington, D.C.

By: johrling

The event will include meetings with legislators to talk about issues that affect travel.

Thanks to research initiatives like The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study, “I think we’re armed with the data, and being proactive in a lot of ways in talking about the importance of meetings,” said DMAI’s Michael Gehrisch. “Knowing the facts — that there are 1.8 million meetings held every year in the United States and that the industry creates 1.7 million jobs, or almost one job for every meeting held — those are pretty powerful numbers.”

Destination: Capitol Hill will include presentations from leaders from both the travel industry and the federal government, and a workshop to help prepare participants to speak effectively about the issues with legislators.

U.S. Travel has created a policy agenda that includes visa policy reform; funding for U.S. airport infrastructure and NextGen, an overhaul of the national air-traffic-control system; and opposition to steep, across-the-board cuts to government travel programs and support for improved methods of managing travel and conducting oversight.

Barbara Palmer

Barbara Palmer is senior editor and director of digital content.