U.S. Travel Community Issues Meeting & Event Guidelines
Leaders from key organizations representing the meetings, events and incentive travel industries recently united to issue guidelines on acceptable business travel practices to companies that have received emergency government lending. The guidelines, built upon existing corporate best practices, are designed to ensure transparency and accountability and protect the one million American jobs supported by corporate meetings and events.
“The business practices of our customers impact the welfare of our industry, our employee base and the economic health of the communities where we do business,” says Roger Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “Working collaboratively, associations representing the meetings, events and incentive travel industries are addressing an urgent public need by developing clear, prudent guidelines for companies that have received taxpayer dollars.” The standards support President Obama’s recent call for the boards of directors of companies that have received emergency government lending to develop guidelines on conferences, events and employee recognition programs.
Highlights from the guidelines include:
- Conferences or events with a cost exceeding $75,000 must be supported by a written business case identifying a specific business purpose and positive return on objective and investment metrics
- At least 90% of incentive program attendees shall be other than senior executives (as defined by Treasury Department guidelines) from the host organization
- Total annual expenses for meetings, events and incentive/recognition travel shall not exceed 15% of the company's total sales and marketing spend.
“At a time when the Department of Labor reports a loss of nearly 200,000 travel-related jobs in 2008 and U.S. Commerce Department data predicts a loss of an additional 247,000 travel-related jobs in 2009, it is critical that every effort be made to protect beneficial meetings and events,” says Dow. “Our associations are hopeful that with stringent, transparent standards in place, policymakers and the business community can embrace meetings, events and incentive travel as responsible economic stimulants.” While the metrics outlined in the guidelines are intended for the recipients of emergency government lending, the drafters understand that many other organizations may consider the policy. In those cases, it should be noted that the metrics may vary based on industry size, company size and market sectors. To view full list of guidelines, visit http://www.ustravel.org.
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ACTE Survey Shows Stronger Than Expected Impact from Recession
The global economic crisis has had a profound impact on the business travel industry, placing a new emphasis on corporate travel department objectives, procedures and existing contracts between buyers and suppliers, according to a recent survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE). Compared with a similar survey conducted last year, there are dramatic changes in travel spends, areas of projected savings and the manner in which business travel may be conducted in the future. Last year’s survey reported that a third of travel managers would spend less on business travel in the coming year, 31% would spent the same and 36% would spend more. The current poll found that 71% of respondents will spend less on travel in 2009, with 21% claiming they will spend the same, leaving only 8% claiming they will spend more. The ACTE 2009 Business Travel Spend Survey revealed that the hardest hit area of business travel is internal meetings. ACTE research shows that member companies are targeting non-revenue producing (non-strategic) internal meetings, as these can constitute up to 40% of a travel budget. The growing popularity of electronic business travel alternatives is enabling companies to reclaim as much as 7.95 million Euro/$10 million USD from their travel budgets without compromising their travel objectives. The survey showed that interest in electronic travel alternatives jumped from 32% in 2008 to 50% in 2009, making it the number one ranked priority for this year. For a complete rundown of survey results, go to: http://www.acte.org/resources/press_release.php?id=400.
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Untapped Savings Opportunities Abound in Meetings Spending
A new survey from StarCite has revealed a wide gap between corporate travel and meetings oversight at a majority of companies. Although meetings and events represent as much as 35% or more of many companies’ travel spending, less than half the companies surveyed have an established Meetings Policy – in contrast with 95% of respondents who said their organizations have a formal Travel Policy. The survey also found that 39% of respondents apply their existing Travel Policy to their meetings programs. This practice presents challenges for meeting planners, since travel policies often lack spending categories that meeting planners use regularly, such as ground transportation. For companies that are eager to reap the rewards of an integrated meetings management program, StarCite outlines a systematic approach that includes:
- Linking disparate travel and meeting data
- Identifying synergies between corporate travel and meetings programs
- Creating specific meetings management policies that will address the unique challenges presented by corporate meetings.
For a full copy of the StarCite white paper, go to: http://www2.starcite.com/starcite.
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ICCA’s Sirk Says Protectionism Not an Option
Martin Sirk, CEO of the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), recently issued a statement concerning the debate over meetings and related expenses ignited by the global recession. “There have been some powerful PR efforts by our industry...to fight against negative media reports about “frivolous” or “excessive” meetings and events,” Sirk says. “What has been lacking in the debate so far is a defense of the international nature of our industry. We are concerned with making valuable new connections across cultures and beyond borders, bringing together doctors, lawyers, scientists, investors, academics, government officials, business leaders and others who would otherwise not have a chance to work together, to share knowledge and know-how to find solutions to challenges which themselves are blind to national boundaries. We want to see Americans and Indians attending meetings in Singapore that result in new capital investment in the U.S., Chinese engineers coming to Germany to share cutting-edge technical research, Brazilians meeting in Russia to discuss environmental solutions with Scandinavians, South Africans arranging business deals with Egyptians and Koreans in London: this is when the true value of our industry is unlocked. ICCA will be advocating strongly in favor of this viewpoint, and will be challenging any nationalistic, negative interpretation of what our industry exists for and why it is valuable. Hopefully, ICCA members around the world, understanding as they do the value of the key international association meetings sector, will stand up for the same principles. Competition between countries and cities is healthy, but protectionism is a real danger. Let’s make sure we don’t let it take root in our industry.” Read Sirk’s complete commentary at: http://www.iccaworld.com/npps/story.cfm?ID=1807
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Will the Recession Put Green Travel at Risk?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no passing fad, according to the latest annual opinion poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and KDS, the European leader in on-demand travel and expense systems. However, certain aspects of CSR, such as ‘green’ forms of business travel, are beginning to suffer in the recession, as organizations prioritize cost-saving over supporting sustainable travel. Confounding the skeptics, the study found that companies are not being blown off course by the global recession in seeking to promote CSR:
- 61% of organizations now have a CSR charter (versus 53% in 2008)
- 27% of organizations prefer to do business with suppliers and partners with a CSR charter
- 28% of corporate travel departments are required to report to management on carbon emissions performance
- The most common CSR activities are reducing energy waste within company buildings (76% ), contributing to the local community (55%), cutting carbon emissions in production plants (34%) and using carbon offset arrangements (25%)
However, the survey also found that companies see cost-cutting as the top business travel concern (rated a high priority by 79% of companies), while environmentally sustainable travel is a high priority for only 17%. Overall, environmental sustainability is rated only a mid-level priority for business travel, ranked as such by 48% of organizations. And concern about environmental impact appears to be more of a European phenomenon: Only 35% of U.S. respondents said they would consider their carbon emissions when planning business travel, compared to 42% of Europeans. To view the full report, go to: http://www.acte.org/resources/press_release.php?id=401
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ACOM Establishes William Just Award
Following the loss of meetings industry visionary William H. Just, the Board of Directors of the Association for Convention Operations Management (ACOM) is celebrating his commitment to the industry by establishing the Annual William H. Just CAE, CMP Memorial Award. The announcement of the award followed after ACOM’s annual conference, which was held from January 9-11, 2009 in New Orleans. Every year, the award will be presented to an ACOM member who has recently received his/her CMP certification, and will provide complimentary attendance to the ACOM Annual Conference, which helps to support their CMP status. Mr. Just passed away on December 19, 2008. He founded ACOM in 1988, having recognized the need for a professional society for convention services managers (CSMs). Look for more details on the award nominations in late 2009.
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