[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 486--COMMEMORATING ``CRUISE TRAVEL PROFESSIONAL 
                        MONTH'' IN OCTOBER 2016

  Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation:

                              S. Res. 486

       Whereas Cruise Lines International Association was 
     established in 1975 and as of 2016 is the largest cruise 
     industry trade association in the world, providing a unified 
     voice and serving as the leading authority for the global 
     cruise community;
       Whereas Cruise Lines International Association supports 
     policies and practices that foster a safe, secure, healthy, 
     and sustainable cruise ship environment and is dedicated to 
     promoting the cruise travel experience;
       Whereas approximately 10,000 travel agencies and 19,000 
     individual cruise travel professionals are members of Cruise 
     Lines International Association and participate in ongoing 
     professional development and training programs to build 
     cruise industry knowledge;
       Whereas cruise travel professionals deliver value to 
     consumers by providing advice on choosing the best cruise 
     based on the budgets and interests of the customers and 
     taking the worry out of vacation planning by arranging the 
     details of vacations;
       Whereas cruise passengers have consistently ranked cruise 
     travel professionals as the most helpful sources of 
     information and service among all distribution channels used 
     for purchasing cruises;
       Whereas 70 percent of cruise passengers from the United 
     States use a cruise travel professional to plan and book a 
     cruise vacation;
       Whereas Cruise Lines International Association and cruise 
     travel professionals across the world celebrate and promote 
     October as ``Plan a Cruise Month'';
       Whereas the United States has the most cruise passengers in 
     the world, with almost 11,500,000 cruise passengers in 2014;
       Whereas the cruise industry in the United States generated 
     375,000 jobs across all 50 States in 2014; and
       Whereas, in 2014, the cruise industry spent $21,000,000,000 
     directly with United States businesses and generated 
     $46,000,000,000 in gross outputs due to the spending of 
     cruise lines and the crew and passengers of cruise lines, 
     including indirect economic impacts: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates the inaugural ``Cruise Travel Professional 
     Month'' in October 2016;
       (2) acknowledges the creativity and professionalism of the 
     men and women of the cruise travel professional community; 
     and
       (3) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
     ``Cruise Travel Professional Month'' with appropriate 
     ceremonies and activities.

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