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Check In with Suzanne
Why Advocacy Is Essential to Keeping Business Travel’s Seat at the Global Table
In times of uncertainty, rapid change and dynamic global developments, advocacy becomes an even more essential tool for shaping what’s next for global business travel and our industry. When policies shift, border crossing rules evolve, and new technologies reshape the traveler experience, it’s our collective voice that ensures business travel be considered, prioritized and protected.
As an industry that delivers $1.57 trillion in annual business travel and meetings spend and tremendous economic impact worldwide, we must be actively present when policies are in flux. It’s how business travel gets ─ and keeps ─ its seat at the global table.
GBTA’s advocacy priorities are clear and member driven: to enable and support business traveler mobility; to invest in travel-related infrastructure; to accelerate sustainable business travel; and to ensure taxes and fees are reinvested within the ecosystem to improve the journey ─ not burden it.
What’s ahead and why it matters now
Entering 2026, our January GBTA poll reflects an industry that is cautiously optimistic but not without concerns. Buyers expect stable to rising budgets and volumes even as affordability, traveler safety, and crossborder rules top their list of concerns.
This week, GBTA will file comments to urge U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to adopt a more balanced and practical approach as it evaluates significant proposed changes to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) requirements. Concern over this matter was voiced by 78% of poll respondents who say their organization frequently sends employees to the U.S.
Additionally, our GBTA team has been in Brussels engaging members of the European Parliament and European Commission on policies spanning digital border crossing rules and fees, passenger rights, and sustainability—ensuring business travel is considered as Entry Exit System (EES) phases in and European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) follows. This is how we make regulations work in practice for travelers and programs alike.
In the U.S., we continue to put pragmatic asks on policymakers’ desks. These include: modernizing the air traffic control system, staffing up CBP and enabling biometric Entry/Exit for faster U.S. processing of overseas travelers; extending the 45Z clean fuel credit to scale SAF; investing in rail; and stopping diversion of the 9/11 security fee. We’ll continue this drumbeat in 2026, so business travel remains safe, seamless, and sustainable.
Keeping your seat at the table—where you work
Here’s how every industry professional can make a difference:
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Use your data and stories. Bring your company’s travel-related outcomes—and GBTA insights—into conversations with leaders and officials. Facts about value, demand, safety and crossborder travel experience resonate.
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Mobilize locally. GBTA U.S. members: tap into grassroots tools to contact government representatives on issues that affect your travelers and budgets.
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Show up, read up. Follow the GBTA Advocacy web page, subscribe to our global newsletter, and join GBTA advocacy efforts so your perspective is heard when and where it counts.
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Champion sustainable progress. Advocate for decarbonization initiatives and take advantage of GBTA toolkits that keep travel both smarter and competitive.
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Stay visible. Inside your company, keep the cross-functional, strategic “seat” you earned during the pandemic. Policy, HR, security, sustainability, and finance need your travel expertise at the table, no matter where you report.
As the policy landscape continues to shift, GBTA will be issuing an expanded set of global advocacy priorities to guide our collective efforts in the year ahead.
Advocacy is what turns disruption into direction—and positions our industry to influence outcomes. Thank you for being part of our industry’s voice. It helps ensure that every business trip can deliver connection, innovation, and growth and that we keep our collective seat at the collective table.
Suzanne
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