NBTA Launches European Organization

The National Business Travel Association of the United States, the world's largest association for corporate travel professionals, announced today that it has expanded into Europe under the name NBTA Europe. The new organization is owned by NBTA but management of it has been contracted to the U.K. and Ireland's Institute of Travel & Meetings.

NBTA said NBTA Europe is also being launched in cooperation with national travel management associations from five other countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. However, Swedish Business Travel Association chairman Peter Borg told EuroBTN his organization has only made a preliminary agreement to join. "It is an interesting idea but we haven't decided if we should participate yet," he said. "We will make a final decision this quarter."

Members of the partner associations of NBTA Europe are being offered free membership in the pan-European organization for its first year of operation. For other travel buyers, membership is €395. Beginning in 2011, the annual fee for members of affiliate organizations to join NBTA Europe will be €395. There are no fees for affiliate organizations to be part of the NBTA Europe network.

Among the services NBTA Europe said it will offer are regular research and reports plus access to Project Icarus, the ITM toolkit on corporate social responsibility, which ITM CEO Paul Tilstone said will be expanded to a European format from its current U.K. and Ireland design. NBTA Europe also plans to launch a European benchmarking tool and introduce the NBTA professional development certification programs that are widely recognized in the United States.

Other ideas include the launch of special interest groups, such as for government travel buyers, and educational and networking events, including a full-scale conference this autumn.

NBTA's European launch moves it firmly into the strategic territory of another U.S.-based travel management body, the Association for Corporate Travel Executives, which traditionally has promoted itself as the industry's multinational organization. Asked why there is a need for another multinational travel management association, NBTA and ITM leaders distinguished themselves from ACTE by saying they are buyer-led, allowing them to advocate on behalf of buyers even if, like ACTE, they are in large part supplier-funded.

In addition, said NBTA global president and CEO Craig Banikowski, "We consider NBTA to be a leader. We significantly dwarf the other organization." NBTA global executive director and COO Mike McCormick added: "Frankly, we think we can do it better and we have the finances and stability to do it on a global basis." NBTA and ACTE explored a possible merger last year but McCormick said there are no discussions with ACTE at present.

NBTA chairman and past president Kevin Maguire said: "We want to be a true global association, and that's exactly what we have here. We need to get away from the idea of the U.S. versus Asia versus Europe." Asked why, in that case, the U.S.-centric name NBTA Europe has been chosen for the new organization, Maguire said, "It would be like taking the Coca-Cola name and changing it to something else. NBTA is widely recognized around the world."

Both Tilstone, who also takes on the new role of managing director for NBTA Europe, and Caroline Strachan, U.K.-based global category leader for business travel at AstraZeneca, who will chair a buyer-led advisory board, stressed that NBTA has gone to great pains to Europeanize the new organization. "They have done it in an incredibly respectful way," said Strachan. The advisory board and a partnership council consisting of partner associations have been created with the express purpose of maintaining a European focus.

NBTA Europe said its combined membership of more than 1,000 buyers collectively manages and directs more than €100 billion of travel and meeting expenditure and three million travelers. The initial partner associations were all members of the more loosely affiliated Paragon Partnership. Tilstone said NBTA Europe will look to recruit travel management associations from other European countries "in the near future."

According to Tilstone, the Finnish Business Travel Association and German business travel association VDR, the largest of the Paragon partners, have not joined with NBTA Europe.

"Paragon already enables the Business Travel Industry to speak effectively with a common voice and its influence is not to be underestimated. As a founder member of this association, the VDR will therefore continue to support Paragon and will refrain from joining NBTA Europe," said VDR president Dirk Gerdom in a statement that also said the association "plans to extend its lobbying contacts in Brussels and play an active role in the creation of opinion leadership in the German federation and Europe."

"We are closely monitoring the development of the new association and are maintaining a dialogue with the NBTA," Gerdom said in the statement. "However, we do not see eye to eye on the purposes and approach of the new NBTA Europe. We prefer to continue cooperating on a bilateral basis as appropriate and will therefore communicate regarding international topics. At the same time, we are considering a German-speaking alliance with Switzerland and the Austrian business travel association ABTA."

NBTA also has regional affiliates in Asia/Pacific, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.