The USTA Vote Travel bus has called Pow Wow home this week with travel industry professionals and media welcomed to board the vehicle designed to showcase how travel powers America.

Rebranded from its time as Toby Keith and Snoop Dogg’s tour bus, it will visit 37 cities and travel 20,000 miles on its journey to highlight the enormous contribution that the travel industry makes in the U.S. to policymakers and candidates running for office.

“What better place to park the bus than at Pow Wow,” USTA president Roger Dow said.

This year’s Pow Wow is expected to break records with approximately 1,500 delegates, 1,200 international buyers, 70 countries represented, 80,000 pre-scheduled appointments and the generation of an expected USD$3.5 billion in revenue as a direct result of meetings at the event.

Admitting that the bus may be a media gimmick, Mr Dow stressed the importance of such a gimmick in attracting attention to the industry that generated USD$1.9 trillion in economic output in 2011 alone.

The Vote Travel bus will hit the road again post Pow Wow and is slated to visit Phoenix, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas this week.

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e-Travel Blackboard flights to Pow Wow proudly sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines