Volcanic Ash Air Closures Affect 80% of Companies

Direct Costs Total Nearly $200,000 Per Company

Travel Managers Ensuring Stranded Travelers Get Home
ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(Business Wire)--
A survey by the NBTA Foundation - the research arm of the National Business
Travel Association (NBTA) - of corporate travel managers at major corporations
across the globe found that the volcanic ash over Iceland and much of Europe
negatively impacted travel for 80 percent of companies, at an average cost of
nearly $200,000 per affected company, and highlighting the importance of
effectively managing corporate travel.

Passengers Stranded

The 234 survey respondents indicated that on average, more than 160 travelers
from each company were stranded away from their homes, costing the company more
than $197,000 in unexpected travel expenses. Across the roughly 2,000 companies
represented in the survey, the data indicates more than 310,000 travelers
experienced travel disruptions, costing the surveyed companies more than $367
million collectively.

Michael W. McCormick, NBTA Executive Director & COO, said, "This has been a
natural disaster for the record books, and one the travel industry will remember
and learn from for years to come. The immediate lesson is the power of travel
management at work. Travel managers have been working extended hours over many
days -- along with supplier partners at travel management companies, hotels,
extended stay properties, airlines, railways, and car rental companies -- to
accommodate those who were stranded by the air traffic closures."

Trips Cancelled

The closure of European air space also forced the cancellation of many business
trips and meetings before they began. NBTA found that NBTA-affiliated companies
cancelled nearly 5,600 scheduled corporate meetings and more than 165,000 total
trips that had not yet taken place.

McCormick continued, "The direct financial impact of this incident in terms of
additional travel spend is astounding, but just imagine how much more loss
companies will experience due to lost opportunities. Meetings were cancelled,
clients were not met, hands were not shaken, and deals were not made. Those
missed business opportunities will take their toll, and companies will have to
get their people back on the road quickly to make up for it."

Travel Managed

Despite the financial loss, a crisis of this magnitude proves the value of
managed travel. Seventy-six percent of affected companies were able to secure
hotel stays for stranded travelers, and 62 percent made alternative travel
arrangements, such as a chartered plane or bus. Travel managers also provided
emergency funding for displaced travelers (35%) and adjusted policies or caps or
expense reimbursement (23%).

One survey respondent noted, "We have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. We
just activated it and our travelers and travel management company knew exactly
what to do."

McCormick commented, "We often forget the human aspect in a crisis like this.
People have been stranded for days, many without sufficient funds or even an
adequate amount of clean clothing. We`ve heard from travel managers helping
single parents who had to make arrangements for their children, mothers who
missed their daughters` weddings, and even a traveler who couldn`t get home for
his father`s funeral. Travel managers remained in constant contact with these
folks as they personally dealt with this ordeal, working diligently to get them
home as soon as possible."

He continued, "The companies that don't have strong travel management programs
in place likely did not meet their duty-of-care responsibilities through this
crisis. In the coming weeks, I expect they will be examining their policies and
deciding to implement travel management best practices, such as centralized
booking and people tracking."

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world`s premier business
travel and corporate meetings organization. NBTA and its regional affiliates -
NBTA Australia/New Zealand, the Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV),
NBTA Canada, NBTA Europe, NBTA Mexico, and NBTA USA - serve a network of more
than 17,000 business travel professionals around the globe with industry-leading
events, networking, education & professional development, research, news &
information, and advocacy. NBTA members, numbering more than 5,000 in 30
nations, are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as
travel service providers. They collectively manage and direct more than US$340
billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually on behalf
of more than 13 million business travelers within their organizations. For more
information, visit www.nbta.org.

National Business Travel Association (NBTA)
Caleb Tiller, 1 703-236-1138
ctiller@nbta.org
or
Nicole Hayes, +1 703-236-1133
nhayes@nbta.org

Copyright Business Wire 2010