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GBTA Testifies at House Homeland Security Subcommittee Hearing, Addresses TSA PreCheck Program and the Economic Impact of Travel Ban

Today, I testified on behalf of GBTA at a hearing held by the Homeland Security Committee’s House Subcommittee on Transportation and Protective Security. The purpose of the hearing, Addressing The TSA Checkpoint: The PreCheck Program and Airport Wait Times, was to examine both TSA, GAO, and private sector stakeholder perspectives relating to the TSA PreCheck program, as well as the agency’s airport wait times mitigation strategy going into the busy Summer travel season.

Finally! Business Travelers Get Some Respect

Announcing the first-ever National Business Traveler Day! National Business Traveler Day (NBTD) is organized by Upside Business Travel. Our media partner is The Wall Street Journal. Supporting NBTD are 25 top-quality partner companies including United Airlines, Hertz, XpresSpa, Mastercard, Uber for Business and Dress for Success–see below for the full list.

U.S. Tourism’s “Trump Slump” Unfortunately Comes as No Surprise to GBTA

In the initial aftermath of the first two travel bans issued by the Trump Administration and the electronics ban, GBTA conservatively projected a loss of $1.3 billion in overall travel-related expenditures in the United States in 2017. Given the cumulative effect of ongoing negative rhetoric and polices that ultimately discouraged international travel to the country, travel fared even worse than our original projections.

United States Projected to Lose $1.3 Billion in Travel-Related Expenditures in 2017

United States Projected to Lose $1.3 Billion in Travel-Related Expenditures in 2017

First, there was Brexit. Next came the Trump Administration’s first travel ban, which cost the United States $185 million in business travel bookings in one week. It was followed by a second travel ban, which like the first, was halted by court orders. After that, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) barred passengers…

Companies Expect Ongoing International Travel Disruption Resulting From Revised Travel Ban
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Companies Expect Ongoing International Travel Disruption Resulting From Revised Travel Ban

European Companies Will Plan Significantly Less Meetings & Events in United States The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the voice of the global business travel industry, polled its U.S. and European members this week to assess the business travel impact of President Trump’s revised executive order on travel. Nearly 4 in 10 (37 percent) U.S….

The Travel Habits of Highly Effective Mexico Business Travelers: Overnight Trips Drive a Booming Market

The Travel Habits of Highly Effective Mexico Business Travelers: Overnight Trips Drive a Booming Market

If the typical Mexican business traveler were to set up an online profile, it might read, “successful, college educated, middle-upper management professional male seeks to contribute to $263.2 billion Mexican peso (MXN) industry through frequent, individual, overnight business trips to the South-Central region of the country.”  Indeed, according to a recent study sponsored by the…

The Mexican Business Travel Industry: A Healthy Business Travel Industry is Driving Growth in all Regions of Country

The Mexican Business Travel Industry: A Healthy Business Travel Industry is Driving Growth in all Regions of Country

The Mexican economy boasts a highly fluid and sophisticated economy with a free flow of goods, services and business travelers throughout the country’s various regions and states. Business travel itself is a huge driver of the country’s economic growth and health – accounting for $263.2 billion Mexican Pesos (about $15 billion) in 2015. A recent…

Business Travel is Major Driver of Jobs and GDP Growth in Canada
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Business Travel is Major Driver of Jobs and GDP Growth in Canada

GBTA Conference 2015 Toronto wraps up today after three days of networking, education and discussion on key industry issues and trends. One of today’s highlights was a general session presentation from GBTA’s VP of Research Joe Bates talking about the economic impact of business travel on the Canadian economy. Richard Blackwell of The Globe and…

Breaking Down the Budget – A Business Travel Perspective

Breaking Down the Budget – A Business Travel Perspective

The White House recently released its proposed fiscal year 2015 Federal Budget. Although there is no chance that Congress will pass the budget in its current form, it does provide us with a sense of the President’s travel-related priorities. But more importantly, it is a cautionary tale about the future without a comprehensive, long-term national…