DC luxury hotel managers optimistic about post-pandemic future washdiplomat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washdiplomat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It's not just the pandemic keeping international travelers from the US as a range of issues from a perceived hostility to foreigners at the border to Trump's rhetoric has discouraged visitors.
“We love all visitors, but the international visitor stays longer and spends more, so they’re extremely important to us, Ferguson said. We know one thing is that right now we’re not ready for international travel and the data tells us that it’s probably going to be 2024 before we rebound to the numbers in which we were at.
The plan this year is to attract tourists who can drive to D.C., according to Ferguson.
“We recognize the fact that there re 50 million people that live within four hours of Washington D.C. and that’s our market. Not everybody is confident in terms of travel and maybe flying,” Ferguson said.
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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo unequivocally stated on Wednesday her commitment to the recovery of the U.S. travel and tourism industry, a powerful sign of support from a member of President Biden’s cabinet.
The commerce secretary made her remarks at a rally hosted by Destination DC the city’s destination marketing organization to celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week.
“Supporting the travel and tourism industry is one of my top priorities,” Raimondo said in a streamed message, noting that she had witnessed, as former governor of tourism-dependent Rhode Island, how the pandemic had especially hurt workers and businesses in this sector.
Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art announce May reopenings pressherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.