Loss of tourism hitting
many cities across U.S.

Honolulu lost 11,000 tourism jobs,
a new national report says

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By Will Lester
Associated Press

WASHINGTON >> Major American cities have suffered serious declines in travel and tourism over the last two years because of the depressed economy and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says a study released yesterday.

The study said the top 100 metropolitan areas in the country lost 536,000 jobs and $22.6 billion since the end of 2000, about half of it attributed to the fallout from the terrorist attacks and public fear about terrorism.

(Honolulu has lost $1.29 billion in international visitor spending, the study said. Nearly 11,000 tourism jobs have been lost here, a 17 percent drop.)

Tourism losses job losses have been especially heavy in Phoenix, San Diego, Houston and Orlando, Fla., said the study conducted by DRI-WEFA, an economic research firm, for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Travel Business Roundtable and the International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.

New York, where terrorists attacked the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001, has lost an estimated 17 percent of the $17.6 billion that tourism brought to the metro area during 2000. And Washington D.C., which saw the Pentagon attacked, has lost about 11.3 percent of the $10.2 billion tourism brought during 2000.

"Tourism is not a nameless, faceless industry," said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, chairman of a task force on travel and tourism for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "If people make fewer trips to a city, the chances are that fewer are people working in hotels, fewer families are being employed in the industry."

Jackson said the federal government should promote tourism and travel as a way to help cities recover from the downturn in the economy.

The mayors want President Bush to create a presidential advisory council on travel and tourism and for Congress to enact tax credits that help unskilled and disadvantaged workers receive job training for the travel and tourism industries.

The study noted that tourism was a $263 billion industry in the leading 100 metropolitan areas in 2000 providing 3.9 million jobs.

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Travel & Tourism in U.S. Metro Economies
(PDF, 172K)