Designed to conclusively establish the link between travel and its effect on relationships, education, business and communities, the U.S. Travel Association reports the launch of "Travel Effect," a multiyear, multimillion-dollar advocacy and awareness campaign.
"What we've long known anecdotally, we will now prove through authoritative research: travel has a positive effect on health, relationships, business performance and the well-being of communities," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
"Travel Effect will take new research and drive earned media to communicate travel's benefits to the U.S. economy, to local communities, and to good health, strong families and an improved quality of life," Dow said.
At Travel Effect's core are groundbreaking research projects and studies that will demonstrate the benefits travel brings to people's lives, their careers and their communities, Dow says.
Current research underway examines travel's effect on relationships and its power to create lasting memories for children and adults. Additional projects include measuring the bottom-line impact of business travel and the impact of government meetings on government operations, private-sector development and local communities, Dow said.
The campaign will employ both earned and paid media to convey research findings, with an emphasis on social media. Research findings and more information will be available at www.traveleffect.com. Additionally, state and district data that provide key travel impact measurements formerly available on poweroftravel.org will be on the Travel Effect website.
Travel Effect's first research project of 2013, a study on the effect travel has on relationships, will be released in February, U.S. Travel said.
Visit www.ustravel.org