US Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman Talks Travel Industry Issues

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
Hot travel summer. Certainly been something right here in Washington, DC, with the World Cup, with the 4th of July, America 250 celebration, IndyCar and so forth, but across the country, the president is suggesting the nation here, the industry is thriving. One of the people standing with the president yesterday, one of the stakeholders here in this whole conversation, has made his way over to our bureau in Washington. That's Geoff Freeman, the president's CEO of the US Travel Association. Geoff, it's great to see you. Thanks for joining us today on Bloomberg. I've long wondered what it's like to stand behind the president in there. We carry all these events, and you're standing there, he's talking about any number of topics with reporters. But you were the reason why he was there before we got into all the other news. And I'm wondering what your message was for the president, and what he told you about this summer for your business.

**Geoff Freeman** (0:56)
And first of all, we had a great conversation. We appreciate the opportunity to do that. I think if we look back at what happened this summer with the World Cup, America's 250th, it really was an epic summer in so many regards. I think we as Americans felt that, the pride we took watching international travelers discover the country, discover oversized gas stations and ranch dressing, we tend to take for granted. It was a very good summer from a travel perspective. And I give the administration a tremendous amount of credit. These are complicated events, particularly the World Cup in 11 different host cities. And it went off smoothly. And that is a great credit to them, all the preparation that went into that. Our message was, if we can bring that same attention, we can achieve even bigger things.
Right now, we've got about 70 million people coming to the United States. We had 80 million coming in 2018
How do we put a strategy in place to get to 100 million? To make the US the world's most visited destination, that was the challenge we put to the administration yesterday.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:53)
Well, and do you have suggestions as to how that can be achieved? What would need to change?

**Geoff Freeman** (1:59)
Yeah, we certainly have a variety of ways we can get there right. We look at various policy issues. Congress passed a new $250 fee on everyone that needs a visa. That's not a good approach when it comes to attracting more visitors. Customs and Border Protection has proposed reviewing the social media of visitors that are coming to the United States. That's not a great way to attract visitors. There has been talk about making everyone that needs a visa post a bond. Those are the types of things that are going to get in the way of attracting more people to the United States. I'm not saying there aren't certain situations where we may need one off approaches for various travelers. What I am saying is these blanket approaches will certainly discourage people from coming.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:41)
Well, that's interesting. We hear from a lot of lawmakers around the country on this program, and many have bemoaned the fact if they're from a place like Las Vegas, even New York, bemoan the fact that they're not seeing a lot of Canadian license plates, and that has a direct correlation to our policy when it comes to tariffs, not to mention all the rhetoric that has surrounded it. Was the White House receptive to your message?

**Geoff Freeman** (3:03)
Well, I know the issue of Canada is an important issue. The president commented yesterday in the press conference, it's a press conference at least, on the trade issues with Canada. We hope those issues get resolved, right? The sooner they get resolved, the better they will be for our industry. There's no doubt that there are certain aspects of the country, border states, you mentioned Las Vegas, certain aspects of the country, Florida, they've paid a big price in a decline in Canadian visitation. That said, travel spending in the country this year is up 6%.
Airlines, hotels have just had their best summer ever. So we are able to thrive without Canada.
Imagine what we could do if we can get those issues resolved and just how strong the industry and the broader economy can be.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:43)
Well, when we talk about the broader economy, is it the broad economy in which we are seeing increased spending on travel, or is it just the upper half of the K?

**Geoff Freeman** (3:50)
Yeah, there's no doubt that if you look back over the past 18 months or so, that K-shaped economy, the affluent traveler, has played a really critical role. There's no doubt about it. We see it in airlines, we see it in the highest end hotels. But if you listen to Secretary Besson, if you listen to Chris Nacetta, CEO of Hilton, both of whom have talked now about a C-shaped economy, and seeing the bottom end of that economy starting to come up, that's a great sign. It's not necessarily happening in every market. There are some markets that are more squeezed than others. But we are seeing some good signs in the lower end of the market. We certainly hope that can continue. Obviously, when we look at unemployment, there isn't any unemployment. When we look at the fundamentals of the economy, there's a lot of good out there. Most importantly, for us, there's a desire to travel.