Countering a move in Congress to cut the federal travel tab, the U.S. travel industry on Friday released a study showing the benefits of government meetings on the economy.
Government travel for meetings and events had a total economic impact of $24.4 billion in 2011, supported 343,800 jobs and $14.5 billion in wages, and contributed $5.5 billion in tax revenue, the study found.
The study found that the costs per participant for government conferences was far lower than those in the private sector, and that canceling conferences would just force more individual meetings, which would cost even more.
"We hope these new findings will encourage congressional leaders to re-evaluate proposals to drastically cut government travel budgets across the country," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, which conducted the survey.
In the wake of recent scandals over government conference spending while the nation suffers under sequestration, five Republican senators last week introduced a bill that would prohibit any conference costing more than $500,000, limit participation in conferences held outside the United States, require agencies to post the details of their conferences online, and require the White House budget office to revise the guidelines for federal travel expenditures.
