During an election year almost everything becomes a political issue, the U.S. Travel Association wants to put the travel industry on that list. It launched the Vote Travel nationwide bus tour Thursday in Las Vegas. The tour aims to raise awareness of the economic impact of output of the tourism industry.

“We do all the good things. We put people to work. We bring people from outside the United States. They leave their money and go home. You don't have to pay them. You do not have to give them health care. It is a beautiful thing, but we need more people to understand that,” President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association Roger Dow said.

The bus tour is encouraging people to let lawmakers know how important the industry is to the economy. They also want to put pressure on lawmakers to vote for projects that will improve tourism, including airport and road infrastructure.

A tour company that offers unique tours of Las Vegas is expanding its business.

A company that encourages tourists to go topless on the Las Vegas Strip is expanding.

OK, so it’s a tour company that has open-top double-deck buses. Open Top Sightseeing, a division of Big Bus Tours, the world’s largest privately held double-deck tour bus company, will expand its local fleet from 16 to 22 buses and double its staff to 150 by the end of the year.

Read more in the Vegas Inc.