Central Missouri News

New credit card regulations sponsored by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) could threaten Missouri’s $19.9 billion tourism industry by eliminating airline credit cards and reward points for travelers, said David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA).

The Lake of the Ozarks area is Missouri's fifth-most visited tourist destination, attracting 11.4% of overnight visitors, according to the Missouri Department of Tourism.

“The Credit Card Competition Act would threaten tourism,” Williams told the Central Missouri News. “The bill could eliminate popular airline credit cards and cost travelers their points.”

“Millions of people use credit card miles to travel each year,” said Williams. “Some people who live in Missouri use them to travel for vacation and some people use them to travel to Missouri.”

S. 1838, the "Credit Card Competition Act of 2023," originally sponsored by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), would require banks to offer merchants at least two network options, one of which cannot be Visa or Mastercard, for processing credit card transactions. Hawley signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill on Feb. 12. 

Hawley and Durbin have said the bill would increase competition in the credit card industry and lower costs for consumers.

Williams said that “forcing companies to charge a certain amount for any service will mean less of that service.”

He said that the bill would result in credit card companies tightening eligibility standards for cards so fewer people will have access to credit cards, or only those with the highest credit scores would be approved for new cards.

All of this, Williams said, could threaten Missouri’s tourism industry which, according to the Missouri Department of Tourism, generated $19.9 billion and supported 310,466 jobs in fiscal year 2023. 

St. Louis is the state’s top tourist destination, attracting 27.2% of overnight visitors.

Airline credit card rewards were responsible for “nearly 260,000 domestic visitors” in Missouri in 2022, according to a report released by Airlines for America, a trade group representing U.S. airlines. That travel supported 3,654 jobs and more than $414 in economic activity, said the report. 

Williams said that the bill could be a “double whammy” for Missouri, impacting state residents who want to travel out of the state, as well as visitors who want to travel to the state.

“The less money people spend on air travel, the more they can spend on hotel, food, and fun in Missouri,” he said. 

S. 1838 is currently pending in the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.