London City Airport flights were cancelled earlier this week after a stint by protesters on the runway. According to Buying Business Travel, nine protesters from the Black Lives Matter campaign group locked themselves together on the runway early Tuesday morning. Gatwick Airport set a new passenger traffic record by welcoming over 42 million passengers over…
Business travel drives business growth. Despite the myriad of ways people can communicate, meeting in person is still the one of the most effective way to conduct business with the greatest ROI. Despite the diversity of reasons for business travel and the stress that can come from being in a new situation, traveling to a…
In general, frequent business travelers are a content group with 88 percent satisfied with their business travel experiences and 84 percent that want to travel either the same amount or more frequently than they do now. It’s no secret that happy employees tend to be more productive, which could mean a better bottom line for…
*Update: Reports are there has been a partial rollback of the aggressive action TravelSky took. The major Chinese airlines have now restored the ability of foreign GDS’s to sell many (but not all) of their fares through foreign agents.* The announcement of TravelSky’s unilateral decision to discontinue the sale of domestic China flights on…
A security scare at Frankfurt Airport led to flight delays across Europe on Wednesday morning, Buying Business Travel reports. Police were forced to evacuate areas of the airport after a passenger entered the airside area without full completion of a security check. The TSA is under scrutiny after failing to follow protocol during security scares…
Of the five European countries included in the most recent GBTA Foundation Western Europe BTI Report – the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy – Italy is the most perplexing. While it, like the other nations, will experience slow and steady growth for 2016 and 2017, it won’t grow at the same rate as neighboring…
As new cases of Zika have arisen in Nassau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just added the Bahamas to its list of travel notices. The recent Zika outbreak has worried business and leisure travelers alike, prompting GBTA’s Risk Committee to host a webinar called Demystifying Zika and the Real Cost of…
In a Forbes article today, author and Forbes contributor Bernard Marr wrote, “Big data is sexy. Data scientists are the unicorns of the job market right now. Some days, it feels as though we are living right on the edge of some science fiction utopian future. But unicorns and sci-fi aside, for businesses, implementing something…
The U.S. State Department has just issued a travel alert advising citizens to refrain from traveling to regions of Ethiopia due to political unrest and anti-government protests. Shortly after, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added the Bahamas to their list of travel notices for Zika. Travel + Leisure reports local mosquito transmission…
During Convention, GBTA India’s new regional director, Gaurav Sundaram, joined us at the GBTA Broadcast studio to talk about what lies ahead for the region when it comes to business travel. In April, we announced the launch of GBTA India as part of our continuing global expansion. Gaurav shared three primary objectives for the upcoming…
A large majority – almost 7 in 10 (69 percent) – of travel professionals indicate their travel program does not have a mobile strategy in place, according to new research by the GBTA Foundation in partnership with Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and the Carlson Family Foundation. However, of the travel programs that have not adopted…
During Convention 2016, Kevin Maguire, GBTA Regional Vice President for the LATAM region, joined us at the GBTA Broadcast Studio to talk about the year ahead for GBTA in Latin America. Building on initial locations in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, GBTA has now expanded into Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay and Chile with plans to include…
In just a few short years, social media has gone from the domain of a few techies and college students to one of the main avenues that people use to communicate with one another. Indeed for some, it has become a truism that, “if it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen.” Given social media’s…
*The following blog post was originally sent as an email to GBTA Members on Friday, August 19.* Earlier this week I sent you a note about all the happenings at GBTA Convention 2016 and what is in store for the year ahead. It is an exciting time for GBTA and given that members are the…
GBTA Ladders is a different kind of mentor program designed to bring together the best and the brightest in the travel industry to allow them to grow and cultivate their careers. Hear from Ladders participants Hank Benedetti of American Airlines and Will Pinnell of BCD Travel about what the program means to them, what topics…
Despite the stark warnings of many prominent economists, analysts and financial experts, on 23 June the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. The nation which boasts the mother of parliaments exercised its democratic right through a referendum to go against the perceived wisdom and strike out into the unknown. Since then…
*The following blog post was originally sent as an email to GBTA Members.* It was such a pleasure seeing so many of you last month in Denver at GBTA Convention 2016. With more than 6,500 attendees and our first time in history to sell out 100 percent of the exhibition floor, it was our biggest…
Days before the start of GBTA Convention 2016 AccorHotels completed their acquisition of FRHI Hotels & Resorts, making newly apointed AccorHotels COO Kevin Frid a great person to talk to about one of the industry’s hottest topics – mergers and acquisitions. During a time of unprecedented consolidation in the travel industry, GBTA Executive Director and…
Embracing technology is nothing new to the business traveler. The Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. has a vintage travel insurance machine on display that used to be a fixture at airports around the world. The machines were designed for the traveler who needed a little bit more peace of mind regarding the security…
Airlines aren’t the only ones facing complications recently, with HEI Hotels & Resorts announcing a malware attack lasting more than a year on 20 of its properties. According to Skift, customer payment card data from tens of thousands of transactions may have been exposed, though it is difficult to estimate the total number of customers…
During GBTA Convention this year, business travel industry experts shared tips, tricks, insights and innovations with our online audience from the GBTA Studio. One such conversation was with Sabre’s Clinton Anderson, senior vice president of strategy and traveler experience, on the rise of mobile technology for the business traveler. The GBTA Foundation recently teamed up…
Despite being overtaken by China as the world’s leading business travel market, the United States is still a vital nation when it comes to both the growth of the global economy as well as for the growth of global business travel. According to the recently released GBTA Global BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report and…
Daily headlines and broadcast news stories make it clear that we live in a risky world. For travel professionals, travel risk management plans are paramount in today’s world. Travel security risks or medical emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime, so it is imperative to have a solid risk management plan in place. During Convention, GBTA…
Germany is the largest economy in Europe, currently the third largest business travel market in the world, is led by one of the most powerful women in the world and has a strong and influential voice on both European and global affairs. Given Germany’s power, wealth and influence, it will continue to be the EU’s…
Just two weeks after a technical glitch caused thousands of delays and cancellations for Southwest Airlines, Delta faced a system outage that impacted flights earlier this week. The airline had nearly 2,000 cancelled flights and more than 2,400 delayed flights on just Monday and Tuesday, according to CBS News. USA TODAY reports an additional 250 flights were…
During Convention last month, GBTA EMEA Regional Vice President Catherine McGavock joined us at the GBTA Studio to talk about GBTA’s role, especially in times of uncertainty. She highlighted the extensive partner network GBTA has with key national associations throughout the region, providing a unique level of access to the local business travel markets and…
Following the cancellation of 2,300 flights and thousands of delays nearly two weeks ago, two of Southwest’s biggest unions are calling on CEO Gary Kelly to step down. USA Today reports the unions are unsatisfied with the airline’s large focus on Wall Street performance and outdated reservations technology. The aviation industry has seen major complications…
In late 2015 and again earlier this year, the GBTA Foundation, in partnership with WWStay, conducted two research studies on extended stay accommodations to learn more about this market especially when it comes to business travel. The first study revealed nearly half (48 percent) of all U.S. business travelers have used an extended stay accommodation…
All eyes will be on Rio in the coming weeks as the 2016 Summer Olympic Games get underway with the Opening Ceremonies taking place tonight. While there have been numerous reports of facilities that are either incomplete or in disrepair, the games will go on, and Brazil is hoping that the Games will help give…
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