Repairing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure is essential to keeping travel and tourism booming. That’s the message in a featured article in Travel Weekly, a leading travel industry publication.
U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow sounded the alarm, saying that travel will stall if infrastructure needs are not met. “If we don’t, we’re locked We cannot grow the industry,” he said. “We have to solve it, or it will be the pinch point that will shut off U.S. travel and not go further. It’s critical, but we have to make it a priority. These things don’t happen overnight. We have to get Congress to take some action.”
But infrastructure doesn’t just mean roads, bridges and airports. It also means making improvements that enhance visitor experiences on America’s public lands and waters, particularly national parks, according to Derrick Crandall, President of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and Counselor to the National Park Hospitality Association. WiFi availability, interactive apps and web-based fee payments are just some examples of ways to modernize and improve national park experiences, he said, with public-private partnerships playing a key role.
“We’re [also] capable of doing a much better job with urban visitors and younger visitors,” he said, noting that augmented reality games and tools could engage a new generation. “We are struggling particularly with younger Americans to get them outdoors and active. But we could do that if we use technology.” Park modernization is “never going to happen,” he added, “without some extraordinary new thinking.”
Infrastructure improvements on public lands and waters are just some of the issues being addressed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s new “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee, which has been asked to provide the Department of the Interior with solutions that will give Americans more access to their public lands and waters and improve visitor experiences.
To read the full Travel Weekly article, click here.
For more information on the “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee, click here.