The Business of Travel
Diving into the European business travel outlook, using recent data from the GBTA Business Travel Index, our annual global benchmark sponsored by Visa, Chris Ely, Research Director, GBTA sits down with Romain Mialane, Visa, Sales Director, Europe. What you’ll hear: What Europe data really says How payments data adds context What travel managers should be paying attention to as we head into the next planning cycle. Music track is Licensed under Creative Commons:
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In this episode of GBTA’s The Business of Travel, Chris Ely, Research Director, GBTA, sits down with Edward Galvin, Head of Visa Commercial Solutions, North America, to unpack what the latest GBTA Business Travel Index (BTI) forecasts about the state of business travel worldwide. From the big-picture forces driving global spend to a closer look at how key regions are performing, they break down the numbers behind the headlines and what they mean for travel programs and suppliers. The conversation also explores how technology and AI are reshaping everything from the traveler experience to...
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While the situation continues to evolve, regional experts discuss how disruptions across the Middle East are having global ramifications impacting aviation, fuel availability, and airline operations. Designed for global travel buyers, this episode aims to provide clarity, context, and actionable takeaways to support informed decision-making in global business travel. Hear scenario-based insights and actionable approaches to help you navigate volatility and plan with greater confidence, focusing on practical implications for cost management, supplier strategy, and programme...
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Geopolitical uncertainty, shifting ESG narratives, and budget pressures are forcing companies to think differently about sustainability. This session dives into how organizations are turning these constraints into catalysts—reframing sustainability as business value, leveraging it as a competitive advantage, and finding innovative ways to fund and scale their efforts. Speakers: Townsend Bailey, VP Global Corporate Responsibility Strategy, Reporting, & Technology, IHG Amelia DeLuca, Chief Sustainability Officer, Delta Air Lines Page Motes, Chief Compliance &...
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About Episode One: Singapore has a 2040 vision for the future of business events. What does that mean for the rest of APAC? In the latest episode of Business of Travel, GBTA’s APAC MICE Power Talks series, Navodit Srivastava, Hospitality Cloud Leader for Cvent in Asia Pacific, sits down with Carrie Kwik, Executive Director, Conventions, Meetings & Incentive Travel, Singapore Tourism Board to explore how one of the region’s leading destinations is preparing for the next two decades of MICE growth. They unpack infrastructure investment, sustainability priorities,...
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The Big Idea: How divisive debates in travel are shaping the future The verdict is in! After three fiery debates across GBTA’s APAC, Europe, and Australia conferences, we’re unpacking the results, reactions, and revelations that shook the business travel community. This isn’t a replay; it’s a deep dive into what the debates revealed about the future of our industry. Which arguments swayed the audience? Where did consensus emerge, and where did fault lines deepen? Join us as we explore the key insights and implications from these high-stakes discussions: The Future of...
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In an era where data tells the truth about traveller motivations, “When the Data is the Story” explores how numbers can illuminate narratives of culture, identity, and experience. Drawing from the 2025 Traveller Identity Consensus report, Evita Robinson and Dr. Alana Dillette reveals how BIPOC traveller data does more than quantify, it humanises and reframes the industry’s understanding of community-driven exploration and global movement. Key Takeaways: How to translate raw data into storytelling frameworks that reflect lived cultural experiences. The role of inclusive data collection...
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Brought to you by the GBTA Technology Committee Europe. In this episode Sarah Whiting & SkyLink (Episode1), Christopher Feuerecker & Blockskye (Episode 2) and Heinz Lennard Hornsby & Serko, Content will be about AI, revolutionizing the industry with a new approach, challenges with the customer demand (scope, requirements, etc.) This is the second in the podcast series featuring Christopher Feuerecker & Danielle Caviar, VP Sales Blockskye. Music track is Licensed under Creative Commons:
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Corporate travel management: obsolete relic of the fax machine era… or the industry’s best-kept secret weapon? Depends who you ask. Airlines will say, ‘We don’t need TMCs.’ TMCs will say, ‘Good luck with duty of care when your VP of Sales is stuck in O’Hare at 11pm.’ This 20-minute discussion will focus on the predictions and fears of the TMC's future role Speakers: Stephanie Lachance EHI, Strategic Sales Director Mauro Di Re, Travel Portfolio and Corporate Expenses – Managing Partner at American Iron & Metal (AIM) Brought to you by the GBTA Canada...
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Personalising the Business Travel Journey: 5 Key Trends You Need to Know Dan Norris, Andrea Batchelor, Juliet Howie, Jo Westlake GBTA Europe Accommodations Committee Music track is Licensed under Creative Commons:
info_outlineIn this 4th installment of ‘It’s SME Again’ podcast series, we chat with Dewitt Jones, world renowned Nat Geo photographer and motivational speaker about how travel can enhance or detract from performance, and how there is more than one right answer in travel, and life. We have previously spoken with road warriors from professional baseball to film and television production to an Olympics Water Polo team. One of the common threads we have discovered is how travel is a key ingredient to success in the sports, media, and entertainment industries. Joining live from GBTA Convention 2022 in San Diego, hosts Amy Thiessen and Greg Bell have an insightful conversation with Dewitt Jones on how to celebrate what’s right in both life and travel.
Dewitt Jones, in his twenty-year career with National Geographic, Dewitt Jones lived the vision of “celebrating what’s right with the world” and embraced an attitude that took him to new heights both in business and in life. He found that the creative tools he employed as a photographer had even deeper application when applied directly to his personal and professional growth. Discover the beauty of being open to possibilities and reframing problems into opportunities.
Using his own extraordinary photographs as illustrations, Dewitt weaves a visual tapestry of emotion and content. One that allows you to touch your own passion: to balance your head with your heart: and to come away inspired with your own creative potential.
GBTA’s Sports, Media & Entertainment committee (SME) currently has 20 committee members from high-level positions within the travel community. Our buyers represent many of the leading sports, media and companies in the world, from professional sports teams and leagues, players associations, movie studios, film production companies, music labels, and so on. On the supplier side we also have top reps from the major travel companies from the airlines, lodging, ground transportation.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s largest professional association representing the $1.4 trillion business travel industry. Collectively, our members directly control more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually, and also represent every facet of the global travel industry marketplace.
The goal of the SME podcast is to leave you with up-to-date insights and relevant, actionable guidance.