It's National Travel & Tourism Week. We forgot someone.

The graphics are out. The people are posting.

Someone just said "economic engine" with their whole chest.

And right on cue, the stats:

"Tourism supports 9+ million American jobs." "Tourism generates $2.6 trillion in economic output." (U.S. Travel Association)

We love a stat. We love a stat so much we will absolutely not ask a follow-up question.

Like: Cool. Are those jobs… good?

Let's talk about the jobs we're celebrating

Tourism is one of the largest employers in the country. It's also one of the lowest-paid major industries in America.

• Median hourly wage for leisure & hospitality: $18–20/hour (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• Nearly 1 in 5 workers rely on some form of public assistance (Economic Policy Institute)

• Annual turnover regularly exceeds 70% (National Restaurant Association)

Seventy percent.

That's not a workforce. That's a revolving door with a name badge.

And then there's the housing thing

Let's just say it plainly: a lot of the people we celebrate this week cannot afford to live in the places they work.

Not Aspen. Not Key West. Not Sedona. Not a growing list of "next great destinations." In many tourism-heavy counties, housing costs have outpaced wages by 2–3x, workforce housing supply is critically short, and the commutes keep getting longer, or the workers leave entirely.

So what do we do?

We argue about short-term rentals like they're the final boss.

STRs: villain, scapegoat, or signal?

Short-term rental revenue hit roughly $70–72 billion in 2025. That's not fringe. That's not cute. That's a major piece of the travel economy.

And yes, STRs can affect housing in certain markets. But here's where it gets convenient: we've made them the whole story.

As if removing STR inventory suddenly builds workforce housing, raises wages, fixes seasonality, or convinces a burned-out front desk manager to stay another year.

That's not policy. That's manifesting with zoning laws.

Meanwhile, I just got back from VR Nation Conference. The vibes were immaculate — not in a "we lit candles and talked about purpose" way, but in a "we need standards, we want consistency, we want to align with destinations, we don't want to be the problem" kind of way.

This is an industry segment actively trying to grow up, at the exact moment the rest of the system is still arguing about whether they're allowed at the table.

Here's the part that should make everyone slightly uncomfortable

We don't have a tourism demand problem. We have record interest in travel, diversified lodging options, entire communities built around welcoming visitors.

What we don't have are conditions that make staying in this industry make sense. So workers leave. And then we call it a talent pipeline issue.

No. We have a retention reality.

The math nobody puts on the slide

If tourism generates $2.6 trillion in economic output and we still can't pay competitively, house workers locally, or reduce burnout — the question isn't whether tourism is valuable.

The question is where the value is going.

We built an industry that celebrates independence, thrives on entrepreneurship, and adapts faster than policy ever will. That's how STRs scaled. That's how traveler expectations shifted. That's how we got here.

But we didn't evolve the system around it. Not wages, not housing, not governance, not alignment. So now we're standing in the middle of it going: something feels off.

Yeah. Because it is.

If we're going to celebrate this week, let's try this instead

Keep the stats. But add a few more: What does it cost to live where these jobs are? How long do people actually stay in these roles? How many second jobs does it take to make it work?

And then ...instead of picking a villain...start building alignment between destinations, hosts, employers, and policymakers.

Because right now we've got STRs fighting to exist, DMOs fighting to stay relevant, and workers quietly opting out. And everyone still posting the same Canva graphic.

One more thing

Tourism doesn't just "support jobs." It shapes lives. Schedules, income, housing, stability, family time, stress levels. All of it.

So if we're going to celebrate the industry, maybe we should make sure it's one people can actually afford to be part of.

I'm Jenn Barbee. And I'm starting to think the real tourism crisis isn't demand. It's who's willing to stick around to deliver it.