U.S. Travel Agents Join Hands to Protect Tourism Industry, Travelers

ASTA travel agents in New York rallied, successfully, to oppose a bill that would have levied a new tax on agents’ service fees for hotel bookings. The agents pleaded their case to state officials, and the measure was excluded from the governor’s proposed budget, which the state legislature passed on April 1.

If it had been enacted, the measure would have created both an administrative/procedural mess and financial strain on the state’s small-business travel agencies, not to mention steering cost-conscious travelers to destinations other than New York.

ASTA continues to encourage its members to make themselves heard on state proposals that would impede travel agencies’ business and thereby limit travelers’ options. Grassroots campaigns to oppose gross-receipts tax proposals are under way in Oregon, Illinois and Texas, while agent members are opposing a licensing bill in Pennsylvania and a surety-bond measure in Massachusetts.

Early this year, ASTA chapters’ efforts helped table a hotel occupancy tax on travel agents’ service fees in Montana and a gross receipts tax in Michigan.