Uncertainty Is Hurting Travel, ACTE CEO Tells New York City
by Richard D'Ambrosio /
Uncertainty created by the Trump Administration’s efforts to restrict some travelers continues to impact the travel industry, said Greeley Koch, executive director and CEO of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), testifying before New York City Council’s Committee on Economic Development.
Koch noted that inbound bookings to the United States are down 1.1%, and off 2.1% to New York City, versus 2016. A “prevailing aura of uncertainty is driving those numbers” and continued negative traveler perceptions “may exert on numbers going into the summer. We may not have seen the worst, nor the end of this, as uncertainty lingers.”
A January poll of 250 ACTE global business travel managers showed that 20% felt the travel ban posed difficulties for their companies outside of the seven countries named in the ban, including issues like fear of harassment and reliability that green cards and visas would be accepted.
When asked, “Will this travel ban reduce your company’s travel?” 3% said “significantly” and 36% replied “somewhat.”
“When travelers 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,” Koch said.