Trump’s Impact on the Travel Industry

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From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

It would be an understatement to say that change is in the air. Last week Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. While the Trump administration begins to take action, businesses are hopeful that he will keep their industries in mind.

The travel industry is a major player in the U.S. economy, contributing more than $148 billion in tax revenue and more than 15 million jobs. Without it, every U.S. household would pay an extra $1,192 in taxes per year. Tax revenue, job creation and related services are all partially contingent on the travel industry. Therefore, the future of U.S. travel is a pressing concern right now. Continue reading →

Behind the Curtain: Football’s Biggest Game

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The New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons are preparing for their appearance in football's biggest game so we wanted to make sure our readers were just as prepared to watch it. We've pulled together a little history on the big game.

The first Super Bowl took place in 1967 as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and the AFL. In 1971, when the merger was complete, we saw the first use of Roman numerals in Super Bowl V. The games were given ordinal numbers since the football season spans two calendar years. This year's game, Super Bowl LI, takes place February 5 in Houston, Texas. Lady Gaga will provide the halftime entertainment.[Tweet "A little history on the big game. #GovEventsBlog #Falcons #Patriots #SB51"] Continue reading →

Hacking the Hackers

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While we did not include cybersecurity in our list of key trends for 2017, it is a topic that we know will remain front and center in the government market. 2015 was a year that brought data breaches into the mainstream and the trend continued to escalate in 2016 with Government Technology declaring 2016 the Year of the Hack.

The security issues of the past year were more than just data breaches. The attacks were motivated far beyond black market payments for personal data. They were aimed at disrupting business and government alike--some were even declared acts of terrorism. What makes this even more challenging, is anyone with a mobile device and a bit of know-how can hack just about anything.[Tweet "Anyone with a mobile device and a bit of know-how can hack just about anything. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

U.S. Mayors Gathering in D.C. Ahead of Trump Inauguration

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From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

Before the well-wishers and protesters of President-elect Donald Trump descend on the nation's capital later this week, America's mayors will convene the 85th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Tuesday through Thursday, the organization will host over 300 mayors at the Capital Hilton, near the White House.

The full list of pre-registered mayors are available on the conference's website.

The organization announced Monday evening that Vice President-elect Mike Pence would speak at their gathering on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading →

U.S. Presidential Inaugurations – the Past and Present

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Every four years Washington gets to shine as host of one of the most meaningful events for democracies world-wide - the Presidential Inauguration. The first Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC, took place in 1801 with the swearing in of Thomas Jefferson. After his second inauguration, Jefferson rode on horseback from the Capitol to the President's House "amid music and a spontaneous gathering of mechanics from the nearby Navy Yard." This spontaneous celebration was the birth of the inaugural parade.[Tweet "A superlative look at past Presidential Inaugurations #GovEventsBlog #Inauguration2017"]

Today's inaugurations are, of course, much less impromptu. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (made up of members of both parties from the House of Representatives and the Senate) and the Presidential Inaugural Committee have been planning the event for months. Planning for building the platform in front of the Capitol takes one year alone. In addition to logistics, these groups must raise funds to cover a portion of the estimated $175 to 200 million price tag for the events. The largest line items in the overall budget are security, transportation, and clean-up efforts.[Tweet "Largest #inauguration expenses are security, transportation, and clean-up. #GovEventsBlog"] Private companies also work to make sure logistics are seamless for this massive event. Verizon announced they will increase their" data network capacity by 500% on January 20th to accommodate the large crowd's bandwidth needs and to ensure first responders are supported. Continue reading →