BUSINESS NEWS joint conference of the Business Travel Association and Advantage Global Business Travel. By Ian Taylor


Economist warns of ‘Storm Rachel’ and tariffs impact


Corporate travel leaders were warned the UK economy will be hit by ‘Storm Rachel’ from early April. Economic commentator Liam


Halligan told the conference the economy already looks to be contracting ahead of next month’s rises in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) – introduced by chancellor Rachel Reeves – and warned a US-led tariff


Liam Halligan


war could make everyone “a lot worse off”. Halligan argued: “The Tories


left a real mess [and] since then, it has got worse. Hiring is falling at the steepest rate since the pandemic.” Recent economic data suggests


“the economy is contracting”, he said, with employers’ NICs to rise to 15% and due on salaries of £5,000 a year from April 6, rather than from £9,100 as at present. Halligan argued: “The


threshold being lowered is the real killer. The beginning of April will be ‘Storm Rachel’.” However, he warned US tariffs


on Mexico, Canada and China, and the threat of tariffs on the EU, could prove more damaging, saying: “The US introduced tariffs in the 1930s and turned the Wall Street Crash into a global depression. We’re going to be a lot worse off if there are big tariffs.”


Business travel bosses vow to keep DEI policies


Business travel leaders have vowed to retain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies despite a growing backlash against diversity initiatives in the US. Duro Oye, founder and chief


executive of social enterprise and youth empowerment organisation 20/20 Change, acknowledged the government-led backlash in the US when he addressed the Corporate Travel Summit and warned: “It’s only a matter of time before we see it here.” But he told Business Travel


Association and Advantage Global Business Travel members: “We can’t be followers of what is happing in the US. The Trump administration will only be there for four years, so this will pass. But people won’t forget how they were treated [by employers].” He insisted: “We want equal


treatment. Why would we change the term DEI?” But he suggested: “People pushing for this [diversity, equity and inclusion]


travelweekly.co.uk


thought, ‘Let’s just bring in a DEI director’. But you need to invest in this in the right way rather than parachuting people in.” Pat McDonagh, chief executive


of Clarity Business Travel, said: “There is a cost to doing this but also a cost to not doing it. We need diversity of recruitment to get talent in [to the industry]. A lot of us have invested heavily in apprenticeships.” Sian Sayward, director of people,


Duro Oye


in the US won’t call it DEI. They will call it something else.” Oye noted worldwide


expenditure on DEI has been estimated at $7.5 billion and said: “If businesses have spent that much, it could be they have spent it on the wrong things.” He explained: “We place people


at a junior level and they progress. Post-Covid, so many organisations


partnerships and projects at meetings and travel management company Inntel, insisted: “DEI initiatives have to be seen as investments. Not doing this will mean less return in future.” Kevin Harrison, director


of Good Travel Management, agreed, saying: “There are a lot of challenges. But if we don’t invest in this, opportunities are lost.” BTA chief executive Clive Wratten


told the conference: “Our industry is a leader in this area [regardless of] what is going on across the pond.”


13 MARCH 2025 47


BA criticised for changes to loyalty scheme


British Airways came in for criticism for making changes to its BA Executive Club loyalty scheme from next month. Rob Burgess, founder of


corporate travel loyalty site Head for Points, said changes to the scheme from April would “decimate the premium ranks” of Executive Club card holders. He explained: “From April 1,


the structure will be based on what you spend with BA. It stops being a loyalty scheme and becomes a recognition scheme for big spenders. Most people who have elite status will lose it on April 1, 2026.” The changed structure will


apply to new scheme members from April and to all members from April 2026. Burgess argued: “People fly


with BA not because it’s a great airline but because they get [Executive Club] ‘status’ if they fly long-haul a lot, and it makes the BA product more acceptable.” He warned corporate travel


managers that from April 1 “travellers will try to spend as much as they can. They’ll book late because it’s most expensive, [whereas] with the current system, travellers would take the cheapest flight with multiple sectors because loyalty status is based on the number of flights.”


Rob Burgess


PICTURES: Dean Rossiter Photography


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