Why India is Poised to Become a World Leader in Business Travel for Decades to Come

Why India is Poised to Become a World Leader in Business Travel for Decades to Come

Today, the GBTA Foundation released its semi-annual business travel forecast for India. The report, sponsored by Visa Inc., showed the continuation of dramatic business travel growth for the region. For the second straight time, we upgraded our forecast projecting India’s total business travel spend to grow 9.8 percent in 2015 and 10.9 percent in 2016…

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Week in Review

On Thursday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security held a hearing to examine the funding of airport capital needs. The Hill’s Keith Lang reported on the potential topics including PFCs and talked with GBTA’s Mike McCormick about why GBTA opposes a hike in the PFC cap. The Washington…

GBTA Kicks off Legislative Symposium 2015 with Education Session
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GBTA Kicks off Legislative Symposium 2015 with Education Session

“We are going to the Hill, we are going make a difference and we are going to make things happen” – Dianne Bradley, Chair of GBTA’s Government Relations Committee.   Dianne, together with and Mike McCormick, GBTA Executive Director and COO, kicked off GBTA Legislative Symposium 2015 by welcoming the more than 90 members who…

Legislative Symposium Continues with Congressional Overview

Legislative Symposium Continues with Congressional Overview

Before GBTA members take to Capitol Hill tomorrow to deliver business travel messages to Congress, Greg McDonald of Cornerstone Government Affairs provided an overview of the 114th Congress. By the Numbers: 12,174 members have served in Congress over the years Today, the House consists of 247 Republicans, 193 Democrats – with 1 vacant seat The…

Legislative Symposium: Keeping the Momentum Going at Home

Legislative Symposium: Keeping the Momentum Going at Home

What is the number one way to influence a member of Congress? Citizens have more power than they realize – personal communications from constituents make all the difference. 46 percent of Congressional staff report that in-person visits from constituents had “a lot of positive influence” on Members/Senators, compared to 8 percent who had the same…

Senator Klobuchar Talks Travel & Tourism Issues at GBTA Legislative Symposium

Senator Klobuchar Talks Travel & Tourism Issues at GBTA Legislative Symposium

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a major champion of business travel and someone The Washington Post called a rising star of the Democratic Party spoke to GBTA members as part of today’s Legislative Symposium. Sen. Klobuchar led off joking about the weather in Minnesota as she lauded the business community for being able to draw the NFL…

Rep. Diaz Balart says No to PFCs at GBTA Legislative Symposium

Rep. Diaz Balart says No to PFCs at GBTA Legislative Symposium

Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL) today earned a round of applause from attendees at GBTA Legislative Symposium 2015 after stating that the appropriations bill that just came out of his Transportation Subcommittee did not include an increase to the passenger facility charge (PFC). Although he noted that there is a long road ahead, Diaz Balart…

U.S. Business Travel Volume on the Rise

The GBTA Foundation released its latest quarterly U.S. business travel forecast today and trip volume is on the rise. While we lowered our forecast for business travel spending from last quarter because the costs of travel are falling and are now expecting 3.1 percent spending growth to $295.7 billion, we increased the forecast for person-trip volume…