Importance of Improving America's Infrastructure to the Travel Industry
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) the U.S. government would have to invest roughly $2.2 trillion over five years to improve the infrastructure in America. This is not to say that if the money was spent, which we all know won’t happen in today’s political tax/spending cut climate, that the infrastructure would be the best in the world. No, the scary part is that it would only suffice to provide us with ‘decent’ roads, rail, airports, etc. at best.
Traffic problems
Any seasoned traveler knows the difference between the quality of airports in Amsterdam and Newark, or Singapore and LAX. It’s like going back in time by 20 years when flying from east Asia or northern Europe to the U.S. In the 1970s this would’ve been the other way around, but not only has most of the developed world caught up to the U.S., they have surpassed the U.S.
The much touted (and hated by many) stimulus spending bill was supposed to put America back at work and help improve our infrastructure. A whopping $787 billion was appropriated by congress for the stimulus, yet only $64 billion, or 8%, was set aside for infrastructure projects. That’s only 2.9% of the $2.2 trillion needed!
When Europeans and Asians visit this country and bring much needed tourist dollars to stimulate the local economies, it hurts America in the long term by not being able to move the tourists quickly between the different attractions. For example, not many tourists take the train from Orlando to Miami and those that do still face an enormous challenge trying to get to Miami Beach using public transportation. The alternative is for the tourists to use airports that were built to handle traffic capacity from the 1960s, not the upsurge of traffic seen these days. A second option isn’t much better: renting a car and getting stuck in horrific traffic jams on I-95 because the roads can only handle traffic capacity limits set forth in the 1970s.
According to the Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI), in 1999 24,466,187 tourists visited the U.S. from overseas (all countries excluding Mexico and Canada). Surprisingly, the number dropped ten years later down to 23,756,184, a decrease of almost 3%. A contributing factor is that overseas tourists are spending their money at newly improved locations around the world, such as in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. If you are a hotel guest and your room has mold or stained carpet would you go back there? The same could be said for many U.S. airports, roads, etc.
I’m not saying it’s all rosy in those emerging markets, but when it only takes a government ten years to build a new airport, high-speed rail link and hundreds of skyscrapers like is true of Shanghai, yet the U.S. federal government, Port Authority, State of New York and city of New York can’t even build one skyscraper or subway station after more than 9 years after 9/11 at ground zero it makes you worried that we’re not spending our hard earned taxes wisely.
So what’s the solution? Find out in my next post titled “4 Ways to Bankroll America’s New Infrastructure”.
