AAA Auto Club South Announces Initiative to Protect Freedom to Travel

    TAMPA, Fla.--Sept. 27, 2001--AAA Auto Club South announced today an aggressive initiative to protect and promote America's freedom of mobility. Called, "Freedom to Travel," this initiative has five primary goals:

1. To protect Americans' freedom of mobility. This longstanding AAA
    mission has taken on even greater importance since September 11,
    2001.

2. To promote freedom of travel choice. This includes freedom of
    destination, mode of transportation, lodging options, and timing.

3. To restore travelers' confidence. We will do this by presenting
    the facts about travel, safety and security, while offering an
    array of travel options.

4. To provide an information clearinghouse for travel planning. We
    will provide relevant and timely updates, advisories and
    information about travel.

5. To improve the travel and tourism business climate. We will work
    with our partners to develop and/or promote a variety of local,
    domestic and international travel opportunities that meet customer
    wants and needs.

    "Following the national tragedies of September 11, we immediately recognized the need for timely, effective and cooperative action to address public opinion about travel," said Tom O'Brien, Executive Vice President of AAA Auto Club South, which serves more than 3.4 million members in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. "We will work with our vendor partners and other travel and tourism organizations to support the call delivered by the President, Florida Governor Bush and other leaders to promote `Freedom to Travel.'"
    AAA Auto Club South has committed a team of experts to move this initiative forward, providing dedicated work space for the "Freedom to Travel Task Team" at its Tampa Westshore headquarters.
    AAA is currently surveying all of its vendor partners in the airline, cruise, tour, attractions, hotel and other segments of the travel industry asking several questions to assess the immediate needs in each segment. This research will be used to quickly develop and deploy an action plan that is focused on meeting the needs of travelers and tourism-dependent businesses.
    AAA is also developing a "travel barometer" which will enable the reporting of timely comparisons to year 2000 travel activity in a number of travel service areas. This information will be first reported within the next week.
    "AAA is uniquely qualified to provide leadership in this regard, given the myriad travel-related services provided through our more than 70 branch offices in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee," said Mr. O'Brien.
    AAA Auto Club South is the largest travel agency in the Southeast United States, and one of the top ten leisure travel agencies in the nation. Auto Club South is the third largest affiliate in the AAA organization. AAA is the largest membership travel organization in the world with 44 million members in the United States and Canada.