Voters in Key Battleground States to Grade Senator Obama's Convention Speech

Travel Industry Association Engages Nevada and Florida Voters on
Critical Travel Issues, Including Recent FAA Communications Meltdown
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
The Travel Industry Association (TIA) today released its candidate
Report Card that will be placed in newspapers in the battleground and
travel-dependent markets of Las Vegas, Nevada and Orlando, Florida.
The third in a series of ads launched earlier this week by TIA, the
Report Card asks voters to grade the candidates' acceptance speeches
based on how well they address issues of vital interest to the
millions of people who rely on the nation's travel system.

"We hope that Senator Obama earns 'A's' from the voters on travel
issues that are critical to Las Vegas' and Orlando's local economies,"
said Roger Dow, president and CEO of TIA. "Travel and the economy go
hand in hand. As this week's FAA communications meltdown demonstrates,
the next President of the United States must make fixing America's
deteriorating travel system a national priority."

The report card asks voters to assess Senator Obama's speech in
five areas: energy policy, transportation policy, improving America's
air travel system, balancing security and ease of travel and promoting
the United States as a premier travel destination.

Two million fewer overseas travelers visited the United States in
2007 than in 2000 - despite an extraordinarily weak dollar and a
worldwide boom in international travel. The decline in overseas
arrivals since 9/11 has cost America nearly $140 billion in visitor
spending, 230,000 jobs and countless public diplomacy opportunities.
On the domestic side, a recent TIA survey revealed that air travel
delays, cancellations and inefficient security screening led travelers
to avoid 41 million trips over the past year, resulting in a greater
than $25 billion hit to the U.S. economy.

Working with Mike Murphy, a nationally recognized communications
strategist, TIA's initiative involves a series of print ads in each
market supported by an Internet grading system. The first print ad
appeared on Sunday, August 24th and established the issue for Orlando
and Las Vegas voters with the message "We are listening" aimed at the
candidates. The second ad appeared on Monday, August 25th and
reinforced the "We are listening" message with "We'll be listening ...
and grading" the candidates' convention speeches. The third ad,
appearing on Thursday, will be the report card that viewers can use to
assign a grade to each candidates speech. TIA will repeat the
advertising campaign during the Republican Convention and will ask
voters in Las Vegas and Orlando to grade Senator McCain's acceptance
speech as well.

Polling shows that voters in Nevada and Florida overwhelmingly
believe that travel and tourism is important to their economies and,
for the first time, they are looking for a candidate to address these
critical issues.

To view all three ads in both cities, click here
(www.tia.org/resources/PDFS/In_the_News_08/All_08_Convention_Ads.pdf).

The Travel Industry Association is the national, non-profit
organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel
industry. TIA's mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel
to and within the United States. TIA is proud to be a partner in
travel with American Express. For more information, visit www.tia.org.

Travel Industry Association
Cathy Keefe, 202-408-2183
Adrienne Brand, 202-315-5100

Copyright Business Wire 2008