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Encouraging Headlines and Fragile News
By Mark Williams
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The news this month has been especially encouraging for the airline industry.
With the general acknowledgment that SARS is under control, that the
terrorism threat has stabilized, and that passenger traffic figures are beginning to
creep upward, airline stocks in Europe surged. Very modest gains have also been
reported in the United States. Carriers in Asia and in Europe are gradually
increasing capacity to meet an anticipated upswing in summer travel and in
Autumn business travel. The underlying support mechanism for this new optimism,
however, is that the economy appears to be improving in some sectors (not
necessarily all in the United States).
I am pleased to report that these subtle but significant changes were
initially predicted in the first Association of Corporate Travel
Executives/Runzheimer International Spending Forecast. Unveiled at ACTE Global Conference in Las
Vegas, this industrywide study showed signs that the industry had bottomed out
and was again climbing back in April. (It illustrated that even though a
substantial number of travel managers were continuing to cut back in 2003, this
number was exceeded by the total of those whose budgets would stay the same and
those whose companies had increased travel spending.)
While any good news is gratefully accepted, the industry has to realize that
recovery at this point is extremely fragile. Only a short month ago, SARS had
essentially closed the travel markets of Asia. War jitters had business
travelers glued to their computer screens. And the threat of terrorism was very much
on everyone's mind.
The issue of SARS is slowly being put in perspective. This industry suffered
its worst economic setback (according to a legion of experts) in a
panic-driven response to the threat of airborne contagion. That threat can be greatly
reduced (or even eliminated) in a standardized approach to treatment, aircraft
sanitation, and in issuing health/travel advisories. I made this statement the
focus of an ACTE initiative released on April 28, the second day of the Global
Conference. I was not alone in my assessment. Two days later, the
International Air Transport Association lauded the efforts of Asian carriers to develop a
standardized prescreening approach to preventing the spread of SARS on
aircraft, and called for a unified effort between industry and government to
minimize the impact of this contagion.
Asian carriers, Asian airport authorities, and Asian governments left no
stone unturned in attempting to isolate this threat to world health and
international business travel. Yet they did so independently of each other. Our
membership is strongly represented throughout the region and is poised to play a
pivotal role in advocating a standardized approach to confronting the threat of
airborne contagion.
Let's power our efforts to make SARS -- and diseases like it -- an expensive
lesson, never to be repeated.
By the same token, travel managers have to put their faith in strong policy
as opposed to gadgetry. The combined threat of disease, war, and terrorism
(coupled with the on-again, off-again economic tremors of the last two months) has
placed a great emphasis on business travel alternatives. The ACTE/Runzheimer
survey shows that the use of business travel alternatives is up by 56 percent
over last year. There is a great tendency to extrapolate that figure into the
death knell for the airlines. Let me assure you that any effort to do so would
not only be premature, but incredibly shortsighted. That same survey
indicated that only 19 percent of respondents were tracking the savings generated by
electronic travel alternatives. And while those that did initially reported
returns as high as 20 percent, one critical question went unasked: How much new
business was lost to competition, who made face-to-face sales and service
calls?
I refuse to speculate on the answer. But the urgency with with some companies
sent their travelers into Asia last month suggests what many ACTE members
already know: That business travel alternatives work best when driven by a
strategy that saves travel dollars in one area, to fund a more aggressive
indispensable travel program in another. Simply cutting costs is a poor long-term
objective for a business travel management department.
The issue of airport and airline security is still hot in the United States.
My scorecard indicates that after screaming for the federal government to take
over and standardize airport security, Congress and various local authorities
are reducing the number of federal screeners and even considering hiring
private contractors (again). The national guard has been withdrawn from airports
across the United States, just as the final stories about airport perimeters
being susceptible to shoulder-fired missile attack have hit the press. Confused?
I am. Every time the country moves to orange alert, this industry sweats
money. Am I suggesting not announcing the change in alert status? Not at all. I am
suggesting that the U.S. government embark on a steady course of action that
inspires traveler confidence. A change in alert status shouldn't spark the
question, "Am I safe traveling this week?"
ACTE is presently cooperating with various levels of the Transportation
Security Administration as both a sounding board and as advocates of business
traveler consideration. Please watch your Globalink for more information in this
area as it becomes available.
And when does the security concerns of one country cross the line of breaking
the law in others? When it concerns the mandatory transfer of personal
information of travelers. European law prohibits the transfer of personal
information now required by the U.S. government for terrorist evaluation on U.S. bound
travelers. Indeed, not all U.S. citizens are behind CAPSSII nor support the
Patriot ACT that spawned it. While the governmental search for a compromise seems
stalled, this association's global membership should move forward to explore
possible solutions. It seems to me that the politicians, economists, lawyers,
and publicists that constitute the core of the legislative process worldwide,
could certainly benefit from the insight of travel service purchasers,
designers, and suppliers in ACTE's Asia, EMEA, Canada, and the United States --
particularly when the issue at hand is travel.
ACTE focused on the changing role of the business travel manager last year.
That effort continues, with an introspective look at the changing role of the
business travel management association. Just as ACTE strives to provide each of
you with the tools to simultaneously advance your companies' business travel
objectives and your careers, this association is seeking to increase its value
as a resource by applying our minds to global and national policy, as well as
educational programs.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Williams
ACTE President
Association of Corporate Travel Executive
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ACTE
Over 2,500 Business Travel Professionals Working Together to Advance the Industry
ACTE's Core Purpose:
To Advance the development and growth of the business travel professional worldwide
ACTE's Strategic Intent:
To be the leading worldwide network of business travel professionals.
ACTE US and Canada
515 King St, Suite 340
Alexandria, VA 22314
Tel: 1-703-683-5322
Fax: 1-703-683-2720
[email protected]
ACTE EMEA
Avenue des Gaulois 7
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: 32.2.743.1589
Fax: 32.2.743.1550
[email protected]
ACTE Asia Pacific
37/F Singapore Land Tower
50 Raffles Place
Singapore, The Republic of Singapore 048623
Tel: +65-6728-3820
Fax: +65-6728-3820
E-mail: [email protected]
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