In coordination with the White House Office of the First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces Veterans Hiring Initiative, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) announce the creation of the Joining Forces Travel Industry Coalition.
As part of a national initiative to honor, recognize and support military families, led by First Lady Michelle Obama, this ASTA-led coalition will aggregate veteran and military-spouse hiring commitments from travel industry firms. Some of the jobs created for military spouses and veterans will be portable since they frequently move from on assignment to military bases around the country and overseas serving our country.
“Every day since we created Joining Forces, Jill and I have seen Americans come together to honor our nation’s courageous military families in ways large and small. We want to thank ASTA for supporting our veterans and military spouses with one of the most powerful commitments possible – a good job. This commitment means that thousands of our heroes can build meaningful careers and provide for their families. And we’re especially excited that many of these jobs are tailor-made for our military spouses, who can keep their job as they move to new duty stations around the country and world,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.
“Projects such as the Joining Forces Travel Industry Coalition allow the travel sector to demonstrate it is a jobs creator. This growing coalition of companies is extremely pleased to be able to offer this support to active military, veterans and their families while demonstrating the travel industry’s vital importance to the country and its economy,” said Tony Gonchar, ASTA CEO.
Participants in the Joining Forces’ veteran and military-spouse hiring initiative commit to providing a specified number of jobs to veterans and military spouses by year-end 2013. Already, the coalition has garnered the support and commitment of leading travel industry organizations: Amadeus North America, American Express Consumer Travel Network, Avis Budget Group, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Enterprise Holdings, Hertz Corp. and Orbitz Worldwide.
To date, ASTA reports, coalition companies have committed to providing nearly 3,000 jobs for veterans and military spouses by 2014. ASTA will manage the coalition and serve as an information source for participating firms, conducting periodic reviews of program goals and coordinated consumer and industry promotion and delivery.
To learn more about the Joining Forces Travel Industry Coalition, visit www.ASTA.org or contact Wayne Nelson, director of Industry Affairs to join the ASTA coalition.
