[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21561]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   THE VITAL ROLE OF TRAVEL AGENCIES

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                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 1, 2001

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2945, the 
Ancillary Airline Industry Relief Act of 2001.
  Soon after the September 11th attacks, this body passed a bill to 
save the airline industry from economic disaster. I supported that 
legislation because of the impact airlines have on our national 
infrastructure. But while the airlines received billions in aid, other 
related industries have been left to pick up the scraps.
  Among those groups are the travel agents. Industry leaders say as 
many as 100,000 could lose their business. These men and women are the 
backbone of our tourism industry. They arrange for most of the air 
travel and almost all of the packaged tours and cruises. Even 
considering travel web-sites, airlines simply cannot manage the burden 
of arranging travel without travel agents.
  Immediately following the attacks, travel agents were indispensable 
to their clients--helping thousands of stranded passengers. We should 
not leave them behind now. If we are to get America traveling again, we 
need to address the needs of America's travel agents. I urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation.

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