A new report from the U.S. Travel Association revealed that one-third of all jobs lost in the U.S are travel-related. These figures are nine times greater than the impact on the industry after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The report estimates that by the end of April, eight million of the 24 million travel jobs in the country will be lost. It also found that travel spending will top half a trillion dollars by the end of 2020. The economy is in deep distress due to the ongoing pandemic. 

Travel spending in the U.S dropped by 85 percent 

Analysis by Tourism Economics found that overall travel spending last week plunged to $2.9 billion—an 85 percent drop since the first week of March and 87 percent lower than the same week in 2019. Other data has revealed that  90 percent of travelers surveyed had some type of travel or travel-related activity planned prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and 80 percent of those either canceled or postponed those plans. At such a time, U.S travel wants Congress to take action and help the industry recover. They want the government to expand eligibility for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to DMOs.