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Cheryl Hutchinson April 2002
Putting the Wings on Recovery
by Cheryl Hutchinson, President-Elect
The eyes of the world are on recovery.
No change of season was ever more eagerly anticipated. Every little sign and
percentage point of growth and spending is carefully weighed against more
obvious evidence to the contrary. Financial dailies see-saw between reports
of light at the end of the tunnel and predictions of more tunnel. And the
analysts look for a way to read hope into numbers that only add up to fact.
How can it be that we are much better at finding the signs of recovery than
we ever were at predicting the approach of hard times? It may be because no
one likes to look for trouble. Just over two years ago, we were told the
runaway
economy in the United States showed no signs of slowing. I don't recall
reading or hearing an army of experts warning of dramatic drops in the
world's stock markets. And during the same period, carriers were reporting
record profits.
Now we're waiting for the recovery. But what is it we are hoping to recover
from? Loss of confidence in the basic guarantee of travel security? That's
one thing. Shaken confidence in the long-term financial outlook for business?
That's another thing. Over-confidence that comes from the belief that risk
is always rewarded and that the highest profit goes to the first in and the
first out? That's something else.
The common thread here is confidence.
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives believes the first step in
putting the wings on recovery is to restore confidence: traveler confidence,
travel industry confidence, and ultimately, shareholder confidence. We're
doing our part this year by confronting the issues, nailing down the
solutions, and finding a way to break the vicious cycle that continually
returns this industry to the box marked "Start."
In the past, there have been two kinds of issues: the easily-digestible
variety, and the type that we all knew about but seldom addressed. The time
has come to look the sacred cows in the eye by tackling the hard stuff. This
conference is "issues driven," because our industry has to confront
those
issues that stand between us and recovery.
And we need to reach a consensus on the solutions because recovery will get
here faster for all of us if it flies instead of walks.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Hutchinson
President-Elect
Association of Corporate Travel Executive
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