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Travel and its verticals—including chauffeured ground transportation and tour/charter work—has been among the hardest hit industries during the pandemic, and a sector that will have a slower recovery. As Congress debates the next COVID-19 relief package, many bills have been proposed that would offer grants and loans to help those sectors as the world emerges from the global crisis.
Recognizing the importance of local tourism and its impact on a state and region’s economy, several senators introduced the Sustaining Tourism Enterprises During the COVID–19 Pandemic (STEP) Act, which would modify existing Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant programs to provide direct support to the hard-hit tourism and travel industry to promote a safe economic recovery and help increase public confidence. The bipartisan bill, S.4299, was sponsored by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and now has the support of Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
As currently proposed, the bill would authorize $10 billion in grants to tourism and event entities impacted by the pandemic, which would include states, nonprofits, and private businesses. The bill would indirectly benefit the industry by helping the venues and organizations that many work with to provide transportation for conventions, trade shows, large-scale meetings, and other tourism-related activities. The full text of the bill is available here.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
“Nevada’s world-class tourism economy—and the families it supports—have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Senator Cortez Masto on a press release on her website. “When hotels, restaurants, and event venues across the state welcome visitors, the public and employees alike need reassurance that travel and events are safe.”
“The travel and tourism industry is a critical part of our state’s economy and one that’s been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,” added Senator Blunt. “This bill will help tourism-related businesses, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs they support, get back to full speed as quickly and safely as possible.”
The bill also has the support of the U.S. Travel Association, one of the largest organizations dedicated to promoting and protecting travel within the U.S.
“Getting the U.S. travel economy restarted is going to be particularly important, but it is also going to be particularly challenging,” said the association’s Executive VP for Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes. “The only way travel jobs will be restored in a timely fashion is if businesses are able to survive until the point when travel is able to fully and safely resume and consumer demand picks up, and the STEP Act would be a major boon to those efforts.”
Advocacy has never been more important to our survival. With Congress stalled on critical legislation and much-needed aid, the association has created a toolkit to make it easy to reach out to your representatives and let your voice be heard. The toolkit is available here.
Other bills that are being considered currently are the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) Act—which has been proposed in both the House and Senate (H.R. 7642 and S.4150, respectively)—as well as the Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards a Recovery in 2020 (RESTART) Act (S.3814) and the Continuing Small Business Recovery and Paycheck Protection Program Act (S.4321).
[08.06.20]
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UMA COO Ken Presley
As Congress debates the next package—or packages—of stimulus and economic aid during the pandemic, the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) helped demystify some of the larger components that are being tossed around during its most recent Town Hall on July 30.
UMA's Legislative and Regulatory Committee Chair Alan Thrasher of Thrasher Brothers Trailways, joined by COO Ken Presley, broke down some of the major bills that the association is watching. Among them are the potential for a second draw on the popular (and actually helpful) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was part of the CARES Act back in late March and started in earnest in early April. The tentative renewal of the PPP has bipartisan support, and would cover additional operational expenses including vital virus cleaning products and personal protective equipment. While Congress deliberates on this second dip, PPP is quickly expiring as the deadline to apply is August 8.
UMA's Legislative and Regulatory Committee Chair Alan Thrasher
Also in play are the Senate’s proposed Restart Act (S.3814), which would be similar to the PPP although larger in scale and could include other hard costs beyond payroll, as well as the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) Act, individual bills introduced by both the House and Senate that would offer grants and loans specifically to the transportation industry. Trasher said that the House bill is making some progress.
Thrasher and Presley encouraged operators and industry friends to keep up the efforts to contact Congressional representatives, noting that their efforts ARE making a difference. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in fact spoke recently about the plight and the importance of the motorcoach industry on the Senate floor. That video can be viewed here.
Beyond legislative news, the call also featured a panel of operators who discussed the ways that they're leading their companies during the pandemic, from keeping their team informed and connected through texting apps and social media and engaging customers with updates and useful information. The panel included Cary Martin of Little Rock Tours & Travel, Bethany Schubert of Trobec's Bus Service, and Dennis Streif of Vandalia Bus Lines.
The next UMA Town Hall is scheduled for August 6. Preregistration is required here.
Visit uma.org for more information.
[08.04.20]
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You asked for it and we listened. In this column, we ask operators of all sizes and from all walks of the industry a question about their business and report their answers so you can assess how your own company compares to your peers. If you would like to participate, please email Rob Smentek at rob@chauffeurdriven.com for next issue’s question.
TOPIC: Other than Zoom, what software or technology has been helpful to your operation in the past few months?
Our company has focused on trying to close as many opportunities as we possibly can. During this slow period, every lead is vitally important. One area of improvement has been the flow of our website chat bot by adding menus for the most requested information and automation to place the visitor on the page with relevant content. We have also expanded and improved our quoting process by using templates for our most common trip types, from wine tours to weddings to airport transfers. The templates contain graphics, standard language, and vehicle pictures to maximize the opportunity to convert to a booking.
Randy Allen, Partner/CTO
James Limousine in Richmond, Va.
We have spent this downtime looking at ways to streamline procedures to better communicate with all employees. We have found Slack is a great communication app. You can have a conversation with an individual, department, or the whole company. This app really helps with communication while working remotely and letting chauffeurs know about available trips. We also have found Trello to be helpful for keeping track of tasks and goals. We are able to keep remote employees accountable to their work, and we are able to upload docs from Dropbox to streamline jumping between apps to review their work.
Chad Casey, President
Casey Corporate Transportation in Atlanta, Ga.
We haven’t had the need for Zoom and have yet to start using it; this is primarily because I am the only employee during these unprecedented times. Communications between us and our parent company in Calgary has never required Zoom as we are all using WhatsApp and Zipwhip for basic messages.
With that being said, before the pandemic, our team, chauffeurs, and office staff were using WhatsApp video and messaging for a good part of our communications. We use voice messages, which are safe for the chauffeurs to create and play back while driving, and our small team has found this more than adequate.
Donald Dekort, General Manager
Highland VIP Group in Calgary, Alberta
Recently, we have stepped up our game in the social media platform with regular postings of educational information for our clients. We revamped our Facebook page to be more useful for prospective clients by adding the services we offer and buttons to get in touch with us right away. We also launched a new LinkedIn page and are sharing industry education on group pages like GBTA, NLA, and other groups, where both industry members and corporate travelers alike can learn more about our company and the efforts we are taking to ensure passenger safety.
Harry Dhillon, President
Ecko Worldwide Transportation Group in San Jose, Calif.
Many of our members have utilized online training and they have been spending time building customized on-boarding training for their chauffeurs. Our Hygiene Awareness training, partnered with DRVR Training has proven to be a very popular with both drivers and operators in Australia and worldwide. Hygiene Awareness training ensures all chauffeurs are trained to keep them and their clients safe.
Toni Peters, Director
Transport Alliance Australia in Caulfield, Victoria
Prior to COVID-19 I had no idea that there was a Zoom world. Since the pandemic hit, I have participated in all-day Zoom meetings. I've remained active with my network through Zoom. Although it does not compare to face-to-face meetings we are all accustomed to, it does help with staying connected.
I have also joined Webex, Google Meets, and Microsoft Team. All are great platforms. I have found that during this time that we must stay up to date with the technology that is available to work more efficiently in our offices. Adapting to the "new norm" will help us achieve our goals and stay relevant with our audience.
Nancy Vargas, CEO
DH2 Transportation in Jamaica, N.Y.
As the lockdown has been especially strict in Spain and lasted many weeks, our main activity was to stay in touch with clients, affiliates, and providers to help us improve some operational or internet presence. In addition to Zoom, we used Webex, Jitsi Meet, and Hangouts, not only for communication but to gather valuable insight from webinars. Those were helpful to stay informed about the current state of luxury travel and transportation, among other things, and we intend to keep the habit. On the other hand, WhatsApp, once again, has proven itself invaluable for more informal conversations with employees and closer friends within the industry.
Joseph Votano, CEO
Abaser Limousine Service in Barcelona, Spain
We’ve loved hearing your answers to our benchmarking questions—but we always welcome suggestions for future topics, too!
Send an email to rob@chauffeurdriven.com you just might see your query answered in our next E-News.
[07.13.20]