Trump causes panic in tourism, hospitality
Scranton Times-Tribune, October 23, 2020
The COVID pandemic is hurting our economy and costing Pennsylvania tourism jobs we cannot afford to lose. For the sake of those jobs and the countless businesses and families who depend on them — especially those of us who rely on Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry — we must elect Joe Biden.
The tourism industry is the lifeblood of many of America’s small businesses. It supports countless jobs and families, particularly here in Northeast Pennsylvania. Nearly all of us in the industry face an unprecedented crisis because President Donald Trump has failed to manage our nation’s COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Travel Association reports that, even after some jobs were restored in the spring and summer travel seasons, more than a quarter of all leisure and hospitality workers remain unemployed — double the loss of the next hardest-hit industry.
Hotels and restaurants across the country are struggling to stay in business, with massive looming job losses and even greater erosion of state and local tax revenues if they fail.
Even as our industry did its part, donating rooms for frontline workers and adopting enhanced cleaning and other procedures to keep our co-workers and customers safe, the Trump administration’s fumbling made the epidemic worse.
Many tourism-based businesses were left out of the Payroll Protection Program, the same lifeline that other industries have been given. Yet the Trump administration has failed to respond with any meaningful plan to help us keep our doors open and our employees working.
Meanwhile, hospitality businesses have faced personal protective equipment shortages, inconsistent stay-at-home orders, conflicting guidance between government officials and the president, and arbitrary or inconsistent social distancing guidance. Trump’s fear of telling us the truth about the pandemic only made it all worse.
These missteps wasted precious time and money and allowed the pandemic to fester and grow, putting an even heavier burden on the hospitality sector, which is now expected to lose an estimated $519 billion by the end of this year. Many tourism-reliant businesses already are on financial life support; we need immediate action and courageous leadership to turn this around and save as many of our businesses as possible.
In failing to lead our country through this crisis, Donald Trump has proved that he is unfit to hold the office of the presidency. He has failed our industry, our employees, our customers, and our nation. America needs a new direction and real leadership. That is why I have joined so many others in Northeast Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry to help elect Biden as the next president of the United States.
Biden would take immediate steps to address the COVID crisis and, in particular, support America’s tourism and hospitality sectors, including:
■ Establish a true small-business fund to ensure resources are set aside for hotels and other small businesses that rely on tourism
■ Make more generous loans available to allow small businesses at greatest risk to keep their workers on payroll and cover fixed costs for the duration of the crisis.
■ Provide a guarantee that every qualifying small business will get relief, rather than capping funds in a way that forces small firms to compete against one another.
I’m supporting the candidate who will do the best job of strengthening our economy and helping Pennsylvania recover and rebuild. That’s why I’m voting for Biden.
Originally published by Scranton Times-Tribune
