By GORDON MONOGHAN
President and Chief Beer Guide
ABQ Beer Tours
New Mexico’s tourism economy brings millions of dollars—and thousands of people—to our state each year. But a bill before the U.S. Senate could jeopardize that.
At first glance, the Credit Card Competition Act is an arcane bill that deals with interchange fees and payment networks, but it will actually have a huge impact on our state—and small businesses like mine.
In tinkering with the credit-card payment processing system, the CCCA will do away with credit-card rewards programs, including points programs—an important part of how middle-class families pay for discretionary travel.
The impact would be huge. In 2022, 85,332 air passengers arriving in New Mexico purchased their tickets using points, miles and rewards, according to data from Airlines for America, the trade association of U.S. airlines. Between direct spending and tax revenues, those travelers generated a combined $114.6 million while visiting, and supported more than 1,000 jobs. New Mexico has benefitted from credit-card points programs with higher airport passenger traffic, hotel bookings, restaurant patronage, and local retail spending.
How do we know the impact of the CCCA will be so bleak? Experience. After Congress passed a similar debit-card bill in 2010, debit card rewards programs all but vanished. In Australia, when their Reserve Bank imposed similar regulations on credit cards, rewards-card fees skyrocket and diminished the value of rewards points. There’s no guesswork here. Passing the CCCA will end credit-card rewards and dry up a key source of New Mexico’s tourism revenue.
Like many of my fellow tourism-based small-business owners, I started my business because I love my state. I’m proud of the thriving arts, culinary and, especially, craft-brewing communities thriving here. With New Mexico constantly at the bottom of so many lists, it’s exciting to see our state recognized as a top tourism destination. Our local breweries have been winning international rewards for outstanding local beers. I love the reaction of the out-out-of-state clients who come on my tours when they not only realize what our breweries have to offer, but also when they tell me, with great enthusiasm, about the amazing sites they’ve already seen.
Many of the people who come through my tours are first-time visitors to New Mexico, but they talk about coming back to see and do even more. Rewards points make it easy for first-time visitors to come to our state; all that New Mexico has to offer makes them want to come back. Our tourism economy is a success story we can all be proud of.
With the year-end crush of bills coming through the U.S. Senate and further prospects for congressional action on the Credit Card Competition Act in 2024, I urge Sen. Martin Heinrich and Sen. Ben Ray Luján to continue their records as advocates for New Mexico’s tourism industry and oppose this dangerous bill.
Small businesses like mine depend on a robust tourism economy. For the good of small businesses around the state, the U.S. Senate must say no to the Credit Card Competition Act.
