For the past 10 years, the travel industry was focused on Baby Boomers, who were considered the most lucrative market. As Boomers got older, it was assumed, they would have more time and more money to travel.

That certainly has been the case over the last decade, and boomers continue to be a major market for travel. But now the industry may want to refocus on the often forgotten Millennial or Gen Y traveler, at least according to the 2014 Portrait of American Travelers, an annual survey by MMGY Global, a travel marketing services firm. 

  

A bill has been filed in the House and Senate to reauthorize a tourism campaign that is credited with attracting 1.1 million visitors to the U.S. and creating $32 million worth of economic activity in 2013. 

The program, known as BrandUSA, is a public-private partnership that is funded in part with money that is collected from fees that are paid by international travelers for visa applications when they visit the U.S.  

In the span of five years, social media platforms have gone from playing a marginal role in hotel customer service to a prominent force.  Millions of guests are opting to raise questions, file complaints or make comments not by email or phone but via public posts on Twitter or Facebook. Yet as customers rapidly redefine how they engage hotels, the industry itself is lagging behind, according to sources.  "Hotels are still struggling to accommodate social media," said Daniel Edward Craig, a former hotel GM and founder of online reputation management firm Reknown. "When it comes to customer service, it's getting harder to ignore, because more and more travelers are using social media as a customer service tool. Hotels need to adapt and adjust."