In response to the Parkland school shooting in Southern Florida, several hospitality and travel companies are severing relations with the National Rifle Association (NRA).
At press time the following companies have terminated discount programs for NRA members:
- Avis and Budget: The car rental companies, which are both operated by Avis Budget Group, will end discounts for NRA members as of March 26, 2018.
- Best Western: Best Western Hotels & Resorts made it clear via social media that it has not had any affiliation with nor is it a corporate partner of the NRA since 2014.
- Delta: The airline announced that it will no longer offer discounted fares to NRA members to attend annual meetings. The company asked any reference to Delta be removed from the NRA’s website.
- Enterprise Holdings: The rental car company, which also owns Alamo and National, announced it will end discounts for NRA members for all three brands effective March 26, 2018.
- Hertz: Hertz tweeted: “We have notified the NRA that we are ending the NRA’s rental car discount program with Hertz.”
- United: United shared via Twitter that it will no longer offer discounted fares to NRA members. The company asked the NRA to remove any reference to United from the NRA’s website.
- Wyndham Worldwide: Through a tweet, the company announced: “Please know, Wyndham is no longer affiliated with the NRA.”
In addition to organizations that have cut ties with the NRA, those calling for a boycott of the association have also made headlines.
Dallas officials urged the NRA to look elsewhere for its annual conference, scheduled for May 4-6, 2018, at the city’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Read Meetings Today’s full coverage here.
When reached for comment, Destinations International maintained its anti-boycott stance.
The organization gave the following statement to Meetings Today:
“Destinations International opposes the use of travel boycotts and travel bans no matter how well intentioned. We believe they are ineffective, hurt the wrong people and are counterproductive.
“Our goal is to end them as an acceptable tool for those seeking political change.
“While the Dallas case is different in that a city official is threatening a boycott of an organization holding a meeting and asking them to leave, rather than an organization threatening to boycott a destination, the resulting effect may very well be the same—a loss for the destination.”
