Press Release

For Immediate Release
9 February 2006

Number of Companies Supporting Registered Traveler Reimbursement is Up, But So Are Travel Manager PrivacyConcerns

Alexandria, VA -- The number of companies willing to reimburse business travelers for participating in a Registered Traveler program is up, but so is the number of business travel managers and procurement specialists with growing concerns regarding privacy, identity theft, and other risks, according to the most recent industry poll conducted by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) . This is in contrast to a previous ACTE survey taken 18 months ago when an overwhelming number of companies indicated that they would not reimburse for a Registered Traveler program. At that time, privacy concerns for a voluntary vetting program was not an issue.

"This shift indicates that industry perception of the Registered Traveler program has changed as the program has evolved from its initial concept to its present proposed form," said ACTE President Greeley Koch. "The Registered Traveler program is still the only security-related process that has met with public approval. Yet changes in the political environment over the time it has taken to formulate the final Registered Travel program has spawned more questions."

Sixty-eight percent of the survey's respondents indicated their companies would reimburse business travelers for annual enrollment in a Registered Traveler-type program -- but not every traveler would qualify. Over 50 percent stated that their reimbursement policy would be based on frequency of travel. Of those companies indicating that they would use frequency of travel as the key criteria, 50 percent indicated it would be based on between 3 and 10 trips annually; compared to 21 percent at 11- 20 trips, and 21 percent at more than 20 trips. Twenty-five percent of responding travel managers claimed they were still in the process of determining the most viable policy for Registered Traveler reimbursement.

Some survey respondents have expressed a new concern that rejected employee applications to the Registered Traveler program could have a negative effect at their companies. Sixteen percent claimed rejected applications would raise questions about the employee, while an 84 percent majority said it would not. In addition, 93 percent stated that a traveler's decision not to apply to the Registered Traveler program would have no impact on the employee. Seven percent declined to state what that impact might be.

"The purpose of the Registered Traveler program is to accelerate the travel process while freeing up other security resources to focus on potential terrorists. There is a difference between someone who has been flagged for a technical reason and another who may be truly suspect. This puts greater emphasis on a resolution process, which has yet to be demonstrated." said Koch.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents indicated concerns over the collection of this data with regard to privacy issues, the opportunity for identity theft and other possible risks related to these security background checks. Koch added that concern for compromised commercial data bases and an increased incidence of identity theft are making the traveling public more wary about providing personal data that may be shared with third-party vendors. This was not an issue in a previous survey.



For more information, contact:
Debbie Flynn
CEO
Brighter Group
The Pod, London's Vertical Gateway
Bridges Wharf, Battersea
London SW11 3BE England
T: 020 7326 9880
F: 020 7326 9890
E: [email protected]
W: www.brightergroup.com