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GBTA Convention 2017
More than 6,700 delegates, including 1,300 buyers, headed to Boston for the annual five-day business travel summit
By PAUL REVEL
nearly US$1.3 trillion last year, according to GBTA research un- veiled at its annual convention in Boston. The association’s BTI
Outlook annual report said this was up 3.5 per cent year-on-year, but forecasts a rise of 5.2 per cent during 2017 followed by over 6 per cent growth in 2018. Delegates heard that China topped the charts for business travel spend in 2016; its US$318 billion surpassing the US for the second year in a row, and with 9.2 per cent annual growth compared to the US’s 0.2 per cent fall. The UK was in fifth place with 6.9 per cent growth and US$50.4 billion spend.
One panel session discussed how to use behavioural science principles to improve compliance and change travellers’ behav- iour. Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans said people’s instinctive decision-making could be influenced by a framework of criteria summarised by the acronym EAST – easy, attractive, social and timely.
Whillans said making it ‘easy’ for users can include default mechanisms – she gave the example of a UK initiative to use auto-enrolment for work pension schemes that led to US$11 billion in savings for the government. ‘Social’ refers to exerting influ-
ence by focusing on social norms – such as the decisions peers are making. Whillans cited another UK example: a letter from the NHS to Birmingham doctors saying that 80 per cent of peers were prescribing fewer antibiotics led to a US$23 million saving. Google’s lead travel buyer Mike Tangney said that his travel policy reflected some of the EAST framework elements: the company’s travel savings reward scheme incentivised travellers, while Google’s trip price caps encompass the ‘social norms’ factor by “showing what ‘reasonable’ looks like”, while its new staff booking tool makes savings easy, with a traffic light system showing where the traveller will save ‘reward’ points.
Travel buyers also discussed LGBT travellers and risk. They were urged to manage the risks for travellers visiting the 72 countries that currently criminalise homosexuality – eight of which can apply death sentences – as well as other destinations with cultures that are intolerant of LGBT people. Panellists agreed that LGBT risk man- agement was an “incredibly complex and nuanced” issue with a wide range of laws, interpretations and cultural attitudes – which can also vary between different parts of the same country.
The panel also agreed that companies should provide training, resources and
advice for all their business travellers for two key reasons: first, even though many organisations offer an inclusive, supportive environment for employees to be ‘out’, no company could possibly know the sexual- ity of all of its employees.
Second, as International SOS regional security manager Erika Weisbrod pointed out, many travelling employees who are not LGBT may have connections via family, friends or organisations reflected in their social media profiles, which can be searched – for example, “photos on Facebook of them attending a Pride rally”. The panel said travel buyers should research LGBT status and social climate in all countries visited by employees, and ensure staff are aware of how to access policy information, training materials and resources without having to identify themselves – not all employees will be comfortable doing this.
A range of speakers at the convention included Turkish Airlines’ chairman Ilker Ayci, Delta CEO Ed Bastian and Expedia chairman Barry Diller. Other keynotes in- cluded record-breaking Olympic medallist Michael Phelps, and retired US General David Petraeus, who was interviewed by Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of 34th US president Dwight Eisenhower.
The 2018 Convention will take place in San Diego on August 11-15.
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