GBTA released its latest business travel forecast for China today as part of a semi-annual series. Sponsored by Visa Inc., the report relates unfolding economic events at home and abroad to their resulting impacts on China’s business travel market. Here are the top five takeaways: China continued its so-called “soft landing” during the second half…
Before we embark on what is sure to be an eventful 2015 in the business travel industry, I wanted to take a moment to both reflect on the critical advocacy issues of 2014 and let you know the next steps in the process of setting our agenda for the coming year. Last year, both new…
Earlier this month, the Obama Administration announced plans to ease restrictions on a 50 year-old embargo with Cuba. The following are background materials and links to information to help you better understand these recent developments and the potential impact to your company. On January 15, 2015 the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and U.S Department…
Do you have a favorite airline for business trips? Forbes shares the best airlines for business travelers in 2015. Cuba is making a splash in the news lately with the half-century U.S. embargo officially lifted last week. GBTA put together a blog post covered in this Successful Meetings article with background materials and links to…
Stuck at the airport? Yesterday’s winter storm was expected to impact more than 40 million travelers. Make sure you’re fully prepared with some of these invaluable tips in case you find yourself stuck at the airport: Keep Your Cell Ready – As soon as your flight cancellation is announced, quickly ring the airline or your…
Advocating for improved airport screening was a major part of GBTA’s 2014 Government Relations Agenda. Recent travel and trade stats released from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showed great strides made in this effort last year. GBTA supports risk-based, intelligence-driven aviation security that is safe, fast and efficient. Inefficient procedures reduce business travel due…
The week began with the news outlets abuzz about winter storm Juno that was making its way from the Midwest United States to the Northeast on Monday with the prospects of dumping feet of snow in areas around Boston and NYC. According to USA Today, about 15 percent of the nation’s flights were grounded Tuesday…
Connectivity is crucial for business travelers – and for many road warriors, that often means connecting to a hotel WiFi network. Free WiFi is one of the most coveted amenities: a Hotels.com survey of 8,600 travelers worldwide found just 11 percent would be willing to pay for Wi-Fi when staying in a hotel. GBTA has…
Earlier this week, I wrote about new hotel WiFi practices. Cancellations are another area where we are seeing changes in hotel policy that significantly impact business travelers. Recently, Marriott and Hilton, two of the country’s largest hotel chains made broad changes to their cancellation policies. The new cancellation policies require that guests cancel their reservation by…
GBTA sounded the alarm about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding battle this week. A DHS funding bill failed to pass a procedural vote this week raising concerns that it could result in serious, unintended consequences for business travel, an industry that is expected to account for $310.2 billion in spending during 2015. GBTA…
Today GBTA announced its support for a Department of Commerce (DOC) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan to improve inbound air travelers’ experiences. The report DOC and DHS released further underscores the fact that failing to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security could have serious, unintended consequences for business travel, an industry that…
Many of you are probably already familiar with Project ICARUS. For those that aren’t, this GBTA Foundation initiative launched in 2006 is the definitive source of information, education, support and recognition programs for sustainability in the business travel and meetings industry, globally. Just last month at GBTA Conference 2014 Berlin, Project ICARUS announced the winners…
This week in business travel news, Cindy Goodman of the Miami Herald writes about navigating the demands of business travel. She highlights the busy lives of several international travelers and cites GBTA data predicting an estimated 5.6 percent increase in international outbound travel from the U.S. as companies deem travel critical to winning new customers,…
As the east coast was hit with a Nor’easter and the west coast was hit with a ferocious storm last week, we are reminded that difficulties and obstacles can arise at any time. Our most recent issue of Global Business Travel Magazine highlighted the importance of travel risk management covering everything from kidnapped executives and…
The mission of the GBTA Risk Committee is to educate and inform GBTA and its members as to the necessity of integrating risk management into their global travel and meetings programs. In the most recent issue of Global Business Travel Magazine, the committee shared their best practices on duty-of-care. *This article originally appeared in Global Business…
This week in business travel, Nancy Trejos of USA Today tells us that InterContinental Hotels Group, the largest hotel chain in the world by room numbers, has agreed to acquire one of the most well-known U.S. boutique hotel brands, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. Mobile is frequently in the news these days and this week was…
While it may have been a slow news week with the holidays, the week in review post is still here to keep you up to date on all the latest news in business travel. Hugo Martin of the LA Times reports that airline cancellations have already surpassed 162,000 this year — the most since the…
2014 has been quite a productive year for GBTA. Below are a few highlights of the many successes. As we wrap up the holiday season and approach 2015, I extend my personal thank you to GBTA members for your membership and engagement making all of these experiences possible. I would also like to send a…
Happy New Year! Today’s week in review post wraps up 2014 and kicks off 2015 putting all the latest news in business travel at your fingertips. Business Traveller shares all of their biggest stories of 2014 in one place from new aircraft to long-awaited openings and other milestones. USA Today does a best of for…
While having data available is nothing new, it has become such an integral part of our daily lives. We can easily track everything these days from our heart rates, the steps we take and calories we burn to recent purchases or gigabytes of data used on our smartphones. Data is also abundant in our work…
It was a week of brutal weather and cold in the United States and Canada that saw many parts of the two countries reach temperatures colder than Mars! Not surprisingly that meant flight cancellations as USA Today reported more than 930 cancelled flights in the U.S. on Tuesday. Looking to avoid delays and cancellations? Well,…
Today, the GBTA Foundation released their annual study, 2014 Travel Management Compensation and Benefits Study, showing the majority of travel buyers (72%) are satisfied with their salaries, with average total compensation climbing six percent higher this year to $112,000. As expected, incomes increase with greater experience, position level, education, and size of company. Overall,…
The Week in Review keeps you up-to-date on the latest business travel news. We had some technical difficulties on Friday, but we’re back today with the latest in business travel news. Check back again this Friday for another wrap-up. The U.S. tightened security requirements for travelers from Europe and Asia on Monday. According to Reuters, visitors…
Last week, the GBTA Foundation released a study that showed technology is poised to transform the role of Travel Managers within the next three to five years. Currently, Travel Managers find that tactical tasks – managing vendor relationships, developing and monitoring programs and policies, etc. – dominate their current responsibilities. Thanks in part to technology…
It was a big week for business travel in Europe as GBTA along with German business travel buyer association VDR kicked off Europe’s largest business travel conference in Berlin. The GBTA Foundation released the results of its semi-annual Western Europe business travel forecast there predicting 4.9 percent growth in business travel spending in 2014 followed…
This week, I participated in a Board meeting for the U.S. Travel & Tourism Advisory Board (TTAB). As you may remember, I was appointed to serve on the TTAB on behalf of GBTA earlier this year. During the meeting, four subcommittees made recommendations to the Board based on our last few months of research and…
Week In Review We kick off this week’s news highlights with some positive news from a GBTA study released this week showing that most travel managers (72 percent) are satisfied with their salary. Average total compensation rose 6 percent year over year and the study also showed that travel managers enjoy significant benefits. Late last…
The Week in Review is back in action this week with a major win for business travelers. USA Today reported that late Thursday night the Senate passed a House bill to reinstate the cap on the TSA passenger security fee, something GBTA has been advocating heavily for. Also on the TSA front, outgoing TSA administrator,…
Last week, the Senate unanimously voted to recap security fees on airline tickets at $11.20 per round-trip ticket. The measure now sits with President Obama for his signature. This is a huge win for travelers as it closes an unintentional loophole that was costing road warriors millions of dollars. Road warriors, who are the most…
With the New Year coming quickly, it is a time of year where many reflect and set resolutions or goals for the coming year. While a lot of resolutions focus on losing those extra pounds so many of us inevitably gain over the holidays, it can also be a great time to think about your…
Looking to catch up on the latest in business travel news? Find it here each week, in the Week in Review post. The Ebola outbreak continues to dominate the news cycle. The New York Times and Buying Business Travel reported on announcements that enhanced screening of passengers will begin as select U.S. and UK airports. NBC…
Today, the GBTA Foundation released a study showing travel managers in both the United States and Latin America report high levels of satisfaction with their Travel Management Company (TMC). Not surprisingly, cost and savings were considered key factors in both regions when it comes to considering what TMC to use. The study, “What Drives Travel…
Update (February 10, 2015): In the aftermath of the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, the World Health Organization plans to implement reforms to “improve its ability to respond more quickly to the next outbreak of a lethal infectious disease,” The New York Times reports. Ebola has been top of mind in the news lately,…
The Week In Review post is back this week to keep you up-to-date on the latest news stories on business travel. Once again, Ebola continues to dominate the news cycle. Two Dallas nurses who treated an Ebola patient tested positive for the virus. CNN reports one of the nurses was diagnosed the day after she flew…
Today we released our latest forecast for the Chinese business travel market – and it continues to grow at a double digit pace. In fact, GBTA forecasts China’s total business travel spend to grow 15.9 percent in 2014 to $262 billion USD and another 18 percent in 2015. The unprecedented growth in China’s economy has…
The Last Week in Review keeps you up-to-date on the latest business travel news. Last week’s GBTA poll on how North American businesses are reacting to the Ebola situation continues to make news with coverage in Roll Call. GBTA Executive Director Mike McCormick once again spoke with the New York Times about the importance of…
The Week in Review keeps you up-to-date on the latest business travel news. This week, GBTA has been at the ITB Asia conference where we unveiled our latest business travel spend report on China and Asia Pacific. Most notably, as Travel Daily Media reported, nearly 40% of business travel spending will come from Asia Pacific….
English 
Spanish 
French 
Portuguese