BTA News

BTA NEWS

The Voice of Business Travel

Dear Business Travel Association Members and Partners, We hope this message finds you well. As we move swiftly through the year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the work the Business Travel Association has accomplished and the events we have run.

Over the few months, we have worked tirelessly to support our members and partners in navigating the challenges brought on by the pandemic. We have provided resources, guidance, and industry insights to help you make informed decisions and adapt to the everchanging landscape of business travel.

In addition to our ongoing efforts to support our community, we have also hosted several successful events throughout the year. From conferences to webinars and networking opportunities, our events have provided valuable opportunities for education, connection, and collaboration.

As we look ahead to the rest of the year, we remain committed to supporting our members and partners in every way possible. We will continue to provide resources, education, and networking opportunities to help you thrive in this ever-changing business travel industry.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the year ahead.

Best regards, Clive

An update from Generation BTA Advisory Board

Hello All, As Clive has mentioned in his past writings and podcasts, the BTA Generation Board was formed to bring new and diverse perspectives to the BTA and to bring about new ideas in how the BTA and the industry can best engage with its ever-expanding demographics.

Over the past six months, the Gen Board have been able to meet in person and virtually, in order to determine what we feel should be our initial objectives in 2023. In the spirit of engaging with the various demographics, the board has split into two groups, (still working together overall), to focus on two key objectives of the board; collecting information on the industries’ current perception and knowledge of the BTA and evolving the current social media strategy of the BTA and its members.

The first quarter of 2023 has been quite eventful with numerous conferences ending with the spring conference in London, all of which the Gen Board and myself have been able to attend where possible. After our panel discussion at the spring conference, the board will be meeting at BA’s Waterside headquarters in April to move forward and develop our current objectives further. We are eager and passionate to get the ball rolling and aid the industry where possible, so watch this space for the next update on the Gen Board and how we are achieving our goals and objectives!

Aron Jameson (Chair)

An update from David Button of Cavendish The race to net zero kicks off It’s been a busy few months in Westminster, with a Budget and the reorganisation of government departments resulting in new departments for Business and Trade (DBT); Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT); and Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Their performances so far have varied – DBT for example taking more than a month to even set up a website and still has not confirmed what each minister is responsible for.

DESNZ – led by a familiar face to the Business Travel sector, Grant Shapps – has had the most attention, culminating in ‘Green Day’ on 30 March 2023. This was billed as the Government setting out it’s lofty ambitions to reach its 2050 net zero target (though slightly forced by a legal requirement to update its Net Zero Strategy after the last one was judged to be unlawful by the High Court) and saw an array of announcements on support for decarbonising the economy – 44 to be precise.

It also, finally, saw the publication of the second consultation on the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate, as well as a grant to Airbus to scaleup research on ultra-low emissions and hydrogen aircraft. Also announced was a consultation on the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate, £340 million investment in EV charging infrastructure, and a commitment to publish a Low Carbon Fuels Strategy aimed at the aviation and maritime sector later this year.

It's all been met with a mixed response, with experts and environmental groups who have argued that the Government may still fail to meet the legally binding climate targets. Friends of the Earth, which was part of the original lawsuit, has described the announcements as “dangerously lacklustre and lacking on climate action” and has stated that, if after a careful review they still fall short, they are willing to take legal action once more.

HS2 in trouble again?

I’ve recently started watching the first series of Race Across the World on BBC iPlayer and my main takeaway from it has been that it is remarkable how bad the UK is at delivering high speed railways compared to many other countries – particularly in Asia. We have 113km of dedicated high speed rail lines, whereas Taiwan – an island seven times smaller than the UK – has three times that amount.

The past couple of months have seen rumours abound about the prospects for HS2 – including where both ends of the line will actually be. The Government recently announced a ‘rephasing’ of the project, prioritising the services between Old Oak Common in West London and Birmingham Curzon Street, meaning that both the Birmingham-Crewe leg and the final few miles to London Euston, will be delayed by several years in an attempt to keep costs down.

Whether HS2 will ever actually be finished, or delivered in the way we expect, is the subject of significant speculation and has even caused notable voices in the sector like Christian Wolmar considering whether scrapping it altogether might be best option. With a General Election coming up, Labour has a real decision on whether to commit to HS2, accelerate it, or ignore the problem until after the election. Either way, this is potentially the slowest high speed railway of all time.

Representing the sector in Westminster The BTA team continues to do sterling work to highlight the successes and challenges of the business travel sector to Government and politicians. This week, the CBI report was briefed into members of the Business Travel APPG and has been sent to key stakeholders, and recently we briefed the Special Advisor to the Transport Secretary on the importance of the sector to the economy.

In the coming weeks, Clive and colleagues will be meeting with the Minister for Small Businesses, Kevin Hollinrake at the Department for Business and Trade to highlight the impacts of late payments to SME businesses. He will also be meeting with Shawney Murphy, the Head of Rail Ticketing Policy at the Department for Transport to discuss rail ticketing reforms and ensure that the changes are positive for TMCs. And looking ahead even further, we’ll be building on the BTA’s response to Labour's National Policy Forum consultation and ramping up our engagement to ensure Labour understands the importance of the sector to the economy as they continue to develop their policies ahead of the next General Election.

David Button Senior Account Director

New BTA Members and Partners The BTA is delighted to welcome the following new Partners and Members to the Association

What have the BTA been up to?

Fraud & Cyber Crime - Webinar 18th January AA Airline Retail - Webinar 26th January Crown Commercial Services - Meeting 15th February BTA Data Skills Academy Briefing - Meeting 21st of February & 9th March Bournemouth University Careers Fair - In person, 28th February Neurodiversity in the Workplace - Webinar 14th March

Sector Conferences

Accommodation On 16th January we hosted our BTA Accommodation Conference at Tower Suites by Blue Orchid Hotel.

We heard from industry leaders in the accommodation sector who updated us on the challenges, opportunities for 2023, sustainability, service, security payments and the hotel RFP process.

Expedia TAAP opened the day by introducing themselves as our newest partners, we then heard from representatives from CT Travel, HotelREZ and CAP Worldwide Serviced Apartments on all things service in the sector. Concluding our morning we had an informative panel on sustainability from Meliá Hotels International, Trees4Travel, CAP Worldwide Serviced Apartments and Blue Orchid Hotels. In the afternoon we heard from NH Hotel Group, Premier Inn, Mastercard, AirPlus International, Clarity Business Travel and Inntel .

Aviation On the 8th February we hosted our BTA Aviation Conference at Harvey Nichols.

We first had an update from IATA followed by our panel of GDS experts from Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport. We then heard from Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue, United Airlines, Chapman Freeborn Air Chartering and DiamondAir International in the first of our airline showcases of the day. In the afternoon we enjoyed our second airline showcase featuring updates from American Airlines, Japan Airlines, British Airways, easyJet and Emirates. Finally we heard from Border Force, Eurostar and NATS. We even got to have a go at making our own Japanese origami birds.

People & Talent On 9th of February we hosted our BTA People & Talent Conference at the Novotel Paddington.

We heard from ITT Future You on what the business travel industry can learn from the hospitality and tourism industry, as well an insightful talk on apprenticeships from Grant Thornton. Andrew Clarke announced the BTA’s careers brochure, which shines a spot light on the array of job opportunities within the business travel industry. Ending our morning session was a panel from Enterprise, easyJet and Sirius Talent Solutions on diversifying organisations.

In the afternoon we heard from AWTE (Association of Women Travel Executives) and Women In Travel on diversity in business travel and women in the travel industry. Following them, Level Financial Technology discussed new on-demand pay to improve employee financial well-being without changing the payroll system.

WeMa then spoke to us about implementing innovative measures to improve employee wellbeing for working carers. Finishing the day Flight Centre Travel Group, American Express GBT, Travel Counsellors and Clarity discussed the best practises to address physical, mental/emotional and financial wellbeing.

Technology On the 28th of March we hosted our BTA Technology Conference at Tower Suites by Blue Orchid Hotels.

It was an excellent opportunity to learn about the advancements in new technologies and their crucial role in making the booker and customer experience seamless for TMCs. We would like to thank Paul Broughton from Travelport, Eric Meierhans from HotelHub, Charlie Baikie from Trainline and Paul Dear from SAP Concur for all their input on this emerging topic.

We were also thrilled to introduce a new segment to our BTA conferences - the innovation sessions. We held a session featuring Gavin Smith from Element Travel Technology I Zoho Partner, who shed light on the significance of travel data as well as Andy Cairns from RAVL who has created a social networking platform for business travellers.

We’d also like to thank our speakers, including Graeme Milne and Sean O'Kelly from Amadeus, Scott Wylie from TripStax, Kristian Bosher from Sabre Corporation and Richard Viner from Snowfall for presenting talks and demonstrations on their platforms.

Spring Conference

On 6th of March we held our Spring Conference at the Congress Centre in central London.

Over 190 delegates from the TMC, Supplier and Buyer communities enjoyed a full day of industry discussion, presentation and debate.

After a review of 2022 and an update of the BTA’s objectives for 2023 from Clive Wratten, the audience received an economic update from Igor Popovic for Grant Thornton who presented on the outlook for the UK economy and what this could mean for businesses and travel in the months ahead. Delegates then got a first sight of the findings from the recently BTA commissioned CBI report on the value of in person meetings from Mohammad Jamei of the CBI. The newly formed Generation BTA Board were represented at the conference with four representatives taking to the stage to discuss their objectives and what they believe the industry needs to do to attract new talent. The also suggested how the BTA can widen its appeal and what excites them about the industry.

We were then delighted to be joined by Sean Doyle, CEO, British Airways who sat down to talk about BA’s & the aviation sector’s recovery in 2023. He also discussed his plans for BA in 2023, sustainability, the importance of corporate travel to BA & aviation, their approach to TMCs in 2023 and plans for airline retailing. Sean spoke very openly and honestly including responding to questions from the audience.

After lunch we turned our attention to the rail industry with a panel discussion on the state of the UK rail sector and the impact to the business travel sector. Our panel was made up of Jac Starr from RDG, Steve Montgomery, First Group and Pat McDonagh of Clarity We then heard from Alan Linter of Capita Experience who spoke about latest customer service trends, lessons learnt from COVID and how other sectors outside of travel are faring and what can we learn from them.

Next up where the buyers who discussed their beefs and challenges with TMCs and suppliers.

They spoke about their challenges, what they’d like to change and why do these challenges exist?

In the final session of the day we were joined by representatives from our technology partners to discuss how the sector can help present sustainable options at the point of sale. They discussed what the technology sector are doing to help this issue and how can technology help with managing and reporting a fully sustainable business travel journey? The panel was made up of Liz Emmott, Trainline, Clare de Bono, Amadeus and Robyn Binks from Travelport Finally, Clive Wratten took to the stage to announce that the BTA Autumn conference was going to take place in the beautiful city of Antwerp.

CBI Report The BTA are delighted to present an economic report, prepared with the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) Economics team. The CBI was chosen as our partner for its outstanding reputation representing the voice of UK business, providing unique access to a diverse range of companies that form the backbone of the UK economy.

With post-pandemic economic recovery well underway, the BTA were keen to understand the importance for businesses to resume in-person meetings, balanced with hybrid working. Anecdotal evidence suggested that workers limit their work-from-home set-up arrangements in favour of in-person meetings.

We wanted to test this trend and understand how businesses felt about the positive implications of faceface contact. The findings highlight that the demand for in-person collaboration is an important economic catalyst. Equally, it reinforces the vital role that the BTA plays in helping the UK economy grow.

Click here to read the full report

BTA Careers Guide The BTA is delighted to have published our new business travel careers brochure, "Your Career Can Travel."

This excellent guide is designed to give an insight into the myriad of opportunities that a career in business travel provides with some great insights from many wonderful people working within our sector. As an industry, we haven't done a great job of communicating what an amazing industry it is, or promoting the fantastic opportunities available to the next generation. We hope this brochure will be the first step to changing that.

Please share this document with your children who might be considering what their career options are and let them see for themselves what a fantastic industry business travel is.

Please share it with their education providers who can use this document to promote an increased awareness of the sector and the wide range of opportunities a career in business travel offers their students.

The brochure can be read here.

BTA Data Academy

Did you miss the recent Data Skills Academy Webinar but are still interested in finding out what all the fuss is about, we recorded one of the Webinars and you can now watch it back at a time that is convenient to you.

Watch it back here : Unleash the power of your business travel data by developing the skills of your people Concerned about cost? – There’s no need! If your company is a levy paying organisation then chances are you have a levy fund sitting there just waiting to be spent on such training. And if there’s no levy fund, then the government pay 95% of the cost for you. (Yes I did just say 95%. You only pay 5% of the cost) . Not sure what on earth a levy is? – You're not alone! Watch the recording or contact Sue @ Grant Thornton for more understanding (contact details below) Do you want to understand what these tailored to business travel data programmes can offer your employees and what the ROI potential could be for your business? This video will definitely help you to understand.

So many businesses are currently struggling to analyse and manage their valuable data effectively, mainly due to the significant lack of data and digital skills which is prevalent across most industries in the Country. This is certainly the case within business travel, as data analytics plays such a critical role for all organisations operating in this sector, to ensure they remain competitive in the global marketplace.

In order to support with developing the essential data and digital knowledge and skills of those working our industry, The BTA, in conjunction with partner Grant Thornton, have launched 2 bespoke data skills academies, exclusively for The BTA members and partners – commencing on the 30th May 2023.

Data Citizen Level 3 Data Analyst Level 4

What are the benefits for employees & businesses?

Learn together with others from across the business travel sector including TMC’s, Airlines, Transport/Accommodation providers etc.

Network with each other, share best practice and insights and discover the vast number of data platforms available The programme content is specifically tailored for those working within business travel to make it relevant We recently held a number of briefing sessions where we learned : Who will benefit from completing data analytics apprenticeships How data analytics apprenticeships can transform your business The programme criteria, training delivery and learning outcomes To find out more, click to Unleash the power of your business travel data by developing the skills of your people - YouTube Pass this on to others within your organisation who might benefit. I hope you will agree it is a wonderful opportunity and I am very excited to see how successful this partnership is. **ENROLMENT CLOSES ON MONDAY 10th APRIL ** Click here to enrol or contact Sue.K.Ledgard@uk.gt.com for more information.

New Events Calendar

Coming up over the next two months the BTA has a series of meetings and webinars covering wide ranging and important subjects.

Specific details of each session will be released in due course, but we wanted to give you and your colleagues advance notice so you can block the dates off in your diaries.

M&E Conference – 8th June, London Planet Plan Conference - 5th of July, London Autumn Conference – 11th to 13th September, Antwerp, Belgium Ground Transport Conference – 13th November, London Please note we reserve the right to change the dates, contents and panellists.

We will be in touch over the coming days and weeks with more specific details and information for registering, if you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact davec@thebta.org.uk

Social Media

Please remember to follow, like, comment and share the BTA’s social activity. Here’s a reminder of our main social media accounts: Twitter - @TheBTAorg LinkedIn – The BTA Twitter - @clivewratten LinkedIn – Clive Wratten Instagram - thebta_org

To contact the BTA please email us at info@thebta.org.uk