Dive Brief:
- Hospitality industry associations, including U.S. Travel, Airlines for America and the American Hotel & Lodging Association, released a joint statement Monday calling for an end to the ongoing partial government shutdown, which “punishes workers and disrupts Americans.”
- The partial shutdown brings risk of air travel disruptions, which could have downward impacts across the hospitality industry, the organizations said. Tuesday marked the fourth day of the shutdown, amid a clash over the Trump administration’s immigration policies after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minnesota last month, the Associated Press reported.
- This federal closure comes on the heels of a 43-day government shutdown — the longest-running in U.S. history — that resulted in significant financial losses for the travel and hotel industries roughly two months ago.
Dive Insight:
In their statement, U.S. Travel, Airlines for America and AHLA “implored the House to act with urgency” to end the ongoing partial shutdown to “prevent significant disruptions, protect travelers, and maintain confidence in the U.S. air travel system.”
“We saw firsthand how government shutdowns significantly disrupt travel and hurt our economy last year,” the organizations said, pointing to the $6.1 billion in losses that travel and related sectors saw from the 2025 shutdown, which lasted from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12.
Amid the partial shutdown, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are forced to work without pay, which “strains an already under-resourced aviation system and sends ripple effects across the entire travel ecosystem,” the associations said.
Government shutdowns suppress travel demand and decrease visitor spending, causing downstream impacts on hotels, airlines, restaurants, small businesses and local economies, U.S. Travel said in a statement last month.
On Monday, the organizations also called on Congress to pursue solutions to guarantee that TSA officers and air traffic controllers are paid regardless of future funding lapses, including passing the bipartisan Aviation Funding Solvency Act and Aviation Funding Stability Act.
House Republican leaders plan to vote Tuesday on a Senate-approved government funding package, which, if passed, would end the partial government shutdown, NBC News reported.
