Our mantra on the Travel Show is “Take a Trip, Save a Life!”  However, and given the current state of things, we might revise this to “Take a Trip, Save an Economy!”  If you are among those lucky Americans with some disposable cash on hand (and we hear there are more of you than are letting on!), there has never been a better, nor a more impactful time to take a trip. 

Apart from the plethora of fantastic travel deals currently available (and they are as ripe for the picking as luscious, low hanging mangos on the Indian sub-continent) we’ve done some digging to determine how your travel dollars impact the nation’s economy.

Let’s take a random destination like Illinois.  According to the Illinois Governor’s Office (okay, there is a credibility issue here, we’re with you!), the city of Chicago attracted 45.14 million visitors in 2007.  This represented a 2.2 percent increase over the prior year, which means that nearly 15% of the US population pumped money into the Chicago economy. 

More importantly for the State of Illinois, an equal number of visitors traveled to destinations outside of the Windy City during the same time period.  In fact, the State of Illinois was the 6th most popular US state destination for visitors coming from overseas in 2007.

The total dollar impact of tourism on the Illinois economy was in the neighborhood of $30 billion in 2007, with visitors spending nearly $82 million dollars per day on local businesses.  This represented a 6% increase over year prior.  More importantly, tourism supported more than 305,000 travel related jobs statewide.  Even better, more than 4,000 travel related jobs were added to the state economy in 2007.

On top of all that consumption, let us not forget that every tourism dollar spent brings in additional tax revenues (remember that little line item on your hotel bill called “tax”)?  In fact, more than $2 billion in state and local tax revenues were generated from travel related spending in 2007.  Travel related statewide tax revenues increased by more than 28% from 2002 to 2007.

What does this all mean to you, the traveler?  Well, it means a more pleasant travel experience.  It means better policing and safer destinations (F.Y.I., the NYC Police Department just announced it is cancelling its January 2010 police academy class due to budget cuts, and example of a decreasing tax base!).  It means more and better entertainment options as venues contemplate new productions, not closing their doors.  It means better shopping as healthy business breeds more competition and lower prices.  It means better service at hotels and restaurants, as businesses in healthy travel economies actually hire staff.  Travel related business in ailing economies reduce staff and double up on duties, if they are indeed able to stay afloat at all.

And for the inhabitants of travel destinations?  Well, it goes without saying that a robust economy and higher tax base breeds better schools, better roads and a lower crime rate.  Tax revenues mean new job opportunities as municipalities increase staff in vital areas such as teaching, policing, sanitation, etc.  And it goes without saying that a healthy travel economy generates new jobs on the open market.  This all leads to lower unemployment and a reduction in transfer payments, as welfare rolls decrease and fewer folks resort to criminal behavior as an alternative to low paying or no paying jobs.

And let’s not forget that people with gainful employment are travel consumers themselves.  So, the good people of Chicago will eventually return the favor by visiting a destination near you!    

Your next trip to Savannah may not save the world, but it will certainly contribute its share to stimulating the economy.  So, if you’ve worked hard, are not having too tough a go of it at the moment, consider a vacation.  It can be a weekend or a week, but do treat yourself (and some others along the way).  Go someplace different.  Someplace that will energize you and your family.  Reconnect with old friends who might appreciate a visit.  And more importantly, get those dollars circulating again.  If more of us do so, we’ll start to see real economic stimulus.  Time and again, the free market has proven the most effective way to jumpstart a moribund economy.