ASTA Shows Support for the SAVE Act

A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives this week is gaining support from the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA).

The Securing Access for Venue Equity (SAVE) Act, introduced on March 23 by Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Charlie Crist (D-FL,) Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), and Dina Titus (D-NV), would give travel agencies owners access to The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, a relief grant program that was originally created by the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2021.

The program includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, to be administered by SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance, where eligible applicants can qualify for grants equal to 45% of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million.

According to ASTA, the Act would give members access to grants of up to $10 million each to help their businesses recover from the pandemic, support that is “sorely needed, as the travel agency sector has been catastrophically impacted and faces a longer recovery window than virtually any other industry” Kerby said.

 “We commend Reps. Amodei, Crist, Pascrell and Titus for their leadership and for recognizing that the job of COVID relief is not done. Through no fault of their own, the women and men in our membership are at risk of losing their livelihood and desperately need additional support. We call on every member of the House of Representatives to cosponsor this bipartisan bill and stand ready to do everything in our power to see it through to enactment,” Kerby added.

“As we have said time and again, when government action has a disproportionally negative impact on a specific industry, it is a matter of fundamental fairness that the government provide targeted relief to the businesses most severely affected. With this principle as our North Star, we will keep fighting for relief until the travel agency sector is restored to health,” he added.