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 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. 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…
According to The Hill, Reps. Joe Heck (R-NV) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) have re-filed a measure that is known as the Jobs Originated Through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act that would expand the expand the State Department’s Visa Waiver Program, which currently allows tourists from 38 nations to visit the U.S. without obtaining a visa. The…
CBS Money Watch reported on a GBTA study this week showing China will soon top the United States in business travel spend in spite of a cooling economy and slower economic growth. Yahoo! News writes that early signs are showing new economic policies in China will have a long-term positive impact on the economy, which…
Last year, the GBTA Foundation released the 2014 Global Hotel Program Study, in partnership with Best Western, interviewing travel managers in North America and Europe who worked on global corporate travel programs and had a role in hotel selection or negotiation. This year, the two partnered again to look at travel managers based in Asia…
GBTA released its latest quarterly forecast for U.S. business travel this week and business travel volume is on the rise. Charisse Jones of USA Today reported on the study saying an additional 2 million business trips are expected to take place this year over last and cites GBTA’s Joe Bates explanation that the cost of taking a…
According to The Hill, Reps. Joe Heck (R-NV) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) have re-filed a measure that is known as the Jobs Originated Through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act that would expand the expand the State Department’s Visa Waiver Program. The VWP has come under fire by some recently who say the program could weaken national security by allowing…
Today GBTA joined several traveler groups in support of Airlines for America’s (A4A) opposition to the proposed near doubling of the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) – or Airport Tax. GBTA is proud to support StopAirTaxNow.com where you can learn more about the PFC and see why A4A says airports have plenty and passengers have had…
Much of the week was dominated by the sad news of the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps killing 150 people. It soon came out that the fatal descent the flight took was deliberate and that according to CNN, the co-pilot was hiding an illness from his employers and had been declared “unfit to work”…
It’s no secret that the U.S. dollar is strong right now and USA Today reports this is helping spur overseas business travel. GBTA’s Joe Bates told reporter Nancy Trejos that we’re definitely seeing the impact of a stronger dollar as well as lower commodity prices, especially the lower cost of jet fuel and other goods…
Business travel is back, but the perks are not according to a USA Today article. GBTA’s Mike McCormick was interviewed for the article saying the growth in business travel comes back to that overall feeling of corporate confidence and seeing a return from putting business travelers on the road. He added that travelers are packing…
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…
*Last Updated: March 3, 2015 at 11:50am GBTA has been talking for weeks about the serious, unintended consequences on business travel if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill fails to pass leading to a shutdown. Absent a full year funding bill, business travel can easily be disrupted, causing an immediate impact on our…
Skift interviewed GBTA’s Mike McCormick this week about the potential hit to the economy if the DHS funding bill doesn’t pass. “It means longer lines, disruption, and a risk of business travelers canceling trips,” McCormick said. Associations Now also weighed in on the potential for dire effects of a Homeland Security shutdown. GBTA often talks…
Last May, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum calling on the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security to establish a national goal and airport-specific action plans at our largest airports to enhance the arrivals process for international travelers to the United States. On Friday, DOC and DHS delivered on the next step in improving the…
This afternoon the House passed a bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the rest of the fiscal year. This comes after Congress could not come to an agreement last week instead passing a one-week extension to keep DHS funded just hours before the deadline where funding would expires. The hotly…
The looming threat of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown dominated the news this week – so much so that GBTA created an entire blog post devoted to a round-up of coverage on just this. Check out the latest news here. Also this week, The Hill reported that Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx…
*This post was originally sent as an email to GBTA members.* Last Friday, just hours before a midnight funding deadline for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set to expire, Congress passed a bill that provided one more week of funding for DHS while legislators will yet again attempt to pass a short-term funding…
*This post originally appeared as a ‘letter from Mike’ in Global Business Travel magazine volume three, issue one.* Not too long ago, business travel was largely limited to certain parts of the world. Now, business travelers regularly venture to dozens of countries on six different continents. The past 15 years alone have seen explosive growth…
GBTA began this week just as last week ended – advocating for Congress to pass a bill fully funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). GBTA’s Mike McCormick spoke with Joe Sharkey of The New York Times about how the funding standoff creates uncertainty for the business travel industry, which directly impacts the economy. USA…
Business travel is hard—and expensive—enough. States and local governments shouldn’t make it even harder and more expensive by adding unnecessary taxes on car rentals. But that is exactly what many such governments are doing, and business travelers from companies of all sizes are paying the price, along with automakers, consumers and insurers. It’s time for…
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…
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…
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