U.S. Travel Association Launches Nationwide Search for ‘Faces of Travel’

U.S. Travel Association Launches Nationwide Search for ‘Faces of Travel’

As part of its Meetings Mean Business public awareness campaign, the U.S. Travel Association has launched a nationwide search for spokespeople that represent the role that travel and hospitality play in the American economy.

Part of a new “Faces of Travel” initiative, they’ll be used to humanize the impact of mass meeting and business travel cancellations, which are becoming a reality in light of recent criticism of business meetings by the media and by Congress. Because they fear negative publicity, companies are canceling meetings and travel, according to the U.S. Travel Association, and hurting local economies in the process.

“When business travel decreases, the unintended victims are the American workers and the communities that rely on travel for jobs and tax revenue,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement. “It is time to give those workers a face in our skewed national discussion. Travel—and the millions of jobs it creates in cities and towns across the country—is a solution to America’s economic challenges.”

In order to find its “Faces of Travel” spokespeople, the U.S. Travel Association has invited travel industry employees to submit 45- to 60-second videos in which they’re describing why travel is important to them, their company and their community, and how they help strengthen the U.S. economy by doing the job that they do.

Videos will be screened and then broadcast publicly on a dedicated YouTube channel. One or more submissions will be chosen, and the winner—or winners—will become a spokesperson for the U.S. Travel Association, interacting with reporters, policymakers and other stakeholders on behalf of the travel, hospitality, meetings and incentives industries.

The “Faces of Travel: We Mean Business” contest began last week and continues through Wednesday, April 24. For more information, or to upload a submission video, visit www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/facesoftravel.

Source: MeetingNews