Hospitality Expos - National Tour Association Hotel News

The U.S.-Cuba Travel Summit begins today in Cancun with travel professionals and Cuban officials in attendance. The agenda for the summit includes presentations from Cuban travel enterprises, information on current legislation including the Peterson-Moran bill (HR4645) and the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (S428), breakout groups with Cuban travel experts and addresses from NTA President Lisa Simon, CTP, and U.S. Tour Operators Association President Bob Whitley on the view from the U.S. travel sector. The summit is presented by Alamar Associates in association with NTA and sponsored by USTOA.

Representative Sam Farr (D-California), co-chair of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus, has introduced H. R. 4676, the Travel Regional Investment Partnership (TRIP) Act, which will provide US$50 million in matching grants to destination marketing organizations and their strategic partners.

Dozens of representatives of the U.S. travel sector will meet with their Cuban counterparts in a public forum to discuss the potential for travel between the U.S. and Cuba. The meeting will take place at the U.S.-Cuba Travel Summit to be held at the Gran Melia Cancun Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, from March 24-26, 2010.

New York City consistently ranks as one of the top U.S. destinations for NTA tour operators, but this visitation is likely to be impacted with today's expansion of hotel room occupancy taxes to include remarketers.

Convenes to Draft Recommendations for President-Elect Barack Obama