Uncertainty Has Its Costs


Greeley Koch, executive director and CEO of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, testified last week before the New York City Council’s Committee on Economic Development regarding the impact of recent bans on the city’s business travel and tourism revenue.

While statistics indicate that worldwide bookings to the U.S. are down 1.1% and that New York City has experienced a loss of 2.1% in bookings over the last year, Koch explained the worst may be yet to come.

Koch told the committee:

“These numbers show a direct parallel with the White House travel bans issued last winter. What they do not show is the prevailing aura of uncertainty driving those numbers and the negative effect traveler perception may exert on numbers going into the summer. We may not have seen the worst, nor the end of this, as uncertainty lingers.”

He pointed to results from an internal ACTE survey of global business travel managers on the issue last January. Of the 250 poll respondents 20% claimed that the travel ban posed difficulties for their respective companiesÝmost of whom were barely reflective of the seven countries named in the ban.

And 25% defined these difficulties as:

  • Fear of traveler harassment
  • Fear of harassment of or reprisals toward U.S. travelers in the Middle East
  • Uncertainty regarding Green Card and approved visa credibility
  • Limited access to the employee pool

And that 25% soared to 37% when respondents were asked about individual fears.
In response to the question: “Will this travel ban reduce your companyÆs travel?”

  • 3% said ‘significantly’
  • 36% replied ‘somewhat’

Koch emphasized that these numbers are of dire concern to the business travel industry, which measures year-to-year gains in single digits.

ACTE’s executive director and CEO said:

“Business and business travellers abhor uncertainty. When travellers are uncertain about the viability of a trip, it gets postponed. That means postponing the hotel stay, the dining, the surface transportation charges, the shopping and the ancillary revenue that floats this city. Sometimes, trips and travellers are rerouted to other places – places with less regulation, equal security, newer meeting facilities and an equal number of options.”

And he concluded:

“New York City is more than just the landmark gateway to the U.S. It is the portal to business, art, music and culture. Why would anyone introduce an aura of uncertainty in travelling to New York?”

For more, go to https://www.acte.org .