Groups fight back against government closure fallout

A four-day conference at the Tampa Convention Center was abruptly bumped this week because of the federal government shutdown, taking with it more than 7,000 hotel room nights and an estimated $5 million in revenue to the local economy

The GEOINT 2013 Symposium, a conference for more than 4,000 intelligence, defense and homeland security professionals and 265 exhibitors organized by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, has been delayed until spring because of the government shutdown.

In Washington, DC, meanwhile, Destination DC estimates hotel occupancy was down 9% in the first week after the shutdown.  

The nonprofit company that handles Washington’s marketing for tourism and major conventions last week launched a campaign underscoring that "D.C. is open for business."

But while Washington focuses on marketing, Arizona and New York have taken action.

Two weeks after being shuttered, their tourist sites, including the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty, are reopening, funded by state rather than federal governments.

Other states are now weighing whether they can justify the outlay of cash to keep their parks open.

Organized groups, too, are fighting back.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and hoteliers from across the country last week sent a letter to President Barack Obama and all 535 members of the United States Congress pressing for a swift, bipartisan resolution.

Hotels across the nation are losing more than $57.6 million in economic activity for each week the shutdown continues, AH&LA said.

"This, along with the $200 million per day in collective American income that is being lost, puts jobs at risk and has a ripple effect through other lodging-related sectors. Communities near national parks are being hit especially hard and are seeing the loss of $76 million per day in visitor spending and the cancellation of thousands of trips and hotel reservations," AH&LA said.

And Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org, called on US airlines to waive change fees and offer refunds to passengers whose trips have been cancelled due to the Federal Government shutdown.

"This Federal shutdown has become a national travel emergency" he said, and "airlines and other travel operators should not profit at the expense of passengers with high change fees and inflexible cancellation policies."

Only Delta has waived the $200 change fee for travel impacted by the federal shutdown. US Airways, American, United, JetBlue and Allegiant airlines continue to impose their regular change fees (about $200 per ticket) plus the difference in airfare for changes.

Southwest does not have a change fee, but does charge the fare difference for changes.

Changes due to government closures are not covered in the fine print of trip cancellation insurance.