NGO TRAVEL Alina Holmes, purchasing and corporate
travel manager for housing charity Habitat for Humanity International, imposes equally stringent pre-trip approval processes. “We have two lists – one red, one yellow – that if booked will trigger our global pre-trip advisory process,” she says. “If the country destination is on the red list you will not be allowed to complete the reservation and will be pointed to our security contact. Travel to a red country requires authorisation from security and management. “Travel to a yellow country and you are
“Pre-trip training and advice is now a protocol; it’s very much policy now”
sent a warning and specific travel security information on reference to the country destination. Travellers are very receptive for they understand the importance of their safety to our organisation and appreciate the pro-active response for their well-being.” Bankester sees the not-for-profit/TMC relationship in a positive light. Can non- specialist TMCs be persuaded to put altruism ahead of profits? “Yes, I think they can,” she says. “By working as partners we’re able to work on combined future investments in the travel industry that, in the end, will increase their understanding of our world as well as gain an insightful look at the fragile countries around us. “Off the top of my head every large, medium and small TMC knows the basic needs of an NGO; it’s making sure as a buyer you are keen on the detail of every aspect of the industry when it comes to the sales force for all products,” she adds. Holmes isn’t so sure. Asked about the challenges she faces, top of her wish-list was “a true global TMC”. Of course, they do exist, but price is clearly an issue. What does she want? “One TMC – instead of depending on regional offices to book travel – providing one-source reporting at a non-profit cost. We still need the same data as for-profit, because we do operate globally, but the price range is very expensive.”
FORMING PARTNERSHIPS What’s the TMC perspective on non-profit? Patrick O’Neill, managing director at Ian Allan Travel – and yes, he did crack that joke – emphasises the partnership role. “These days, most of the charities we work with recognise the requirement for their own security officers to be part of the pre-trip process – pre-trip training and advice is now a protocol,” he says. “It’s something we have been advocating for many years, and pre-trip training is very much policy now. We, in turn, support that with our own traveller risk profiles. We monitor where they are, where they’re going – we can pinpoint these people precisely. If something goes wrong, each charity will deal with that in their own way, so ours is a supporting role.”
130 BBT January/February 2018
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM He goes on: “Equally important is getting
people out. It cannot be our decision to repatriate a passenger; we need a formal instruction either from the individual themselves, or from the client.” He says a major aspect of this is “we may not be able to get that person out directly – it’s never straightforward, and there has to be an authorisation. That £400 flight may not be available because the airport is closed, so we have to work out an indirect ‘escape route’ which probably comes at additional cost, and for that we need the client’s approval. Then there are other complications, says
O’Neill, such as where re-routing takes the traveller into a neighbouring country with different visa requirements. “We can only take advice from the FCO [Foreign & Commonwealth Office], and then it’s up to the client to decide – again, that’s why it’s so important to have a security officer as part of the decision-making process.” Gary McLeod, joint managing director at Leeds-based Traveleads (and yes, the joke was trotted out yet again), emphasises the role of the TMC – with a distinctively domestic bias. “Some charities, by the nature of their work, are going to be more ‘reactive’ to events than others and, therefore, potentially won’t have the luxury of much of a booking horizon – possibly leading them into more expensive scenarios,” he says. “One of the main challenges is,
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