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Alisa Harrison, 202-628-8000
Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770
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IFA CELEBRATES NATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM WEEK
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2012 – The International Franchise Association announced its support today for National Travel and Tourism Week May 5-13, sponsored by the U.S. Travel Association (USTA).
“Travelers to the U.S. are significant customers for the nearly 825,000 franchised businesses in the U.S., including restaurants, hotels, retail products and services, business services and personal services,” said IFA President & CEO Steve Caldeira, who serves as a board member of the U.S. Travel Association. “Boosting travel to the U.S. will create jobs and increase economic output in the $2.1 trillion franchise industry.
What is good for the travel industry, is good for the franchise industry.” Through the National Travel and Tourism Week, each year the U.S. Travel Association reminds the industry of the importance travel has on local communities and thanks the 14.4 million U.S. workers who support travel and tourism. Since its establishment, the U.S. travel community has collectively marked the event in a number of ways, from staging local rallies and conducting media outreach to securing proclamations and resolutions from local legislative bodies.
According to the USTA, by failing to keep pace with the growth in global long-haul international travel between 2000 and 2010, the United States lost the opportunity to welcome 78 million more visitors and generate $606 billion in direct and downstream spending-enough to support more than 467,000 additional U.S. jobs annually over those years, many of these in franchised businesses.
“The IFA joined the U.S. Travel Association’s Discover America Partnership to take more aggressive steps to boost the U.S. share of the international tourism market,” Caldeira said. “Increasing international travel and making it easier for foreign visitors to travel to the United States will help the franchise industry continue its proven track record of creating jobs and help franchisees still struggling in a challenging economic environment.”
For more information on National Travel and Tourism Week click here.
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About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.