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Dear NBTA Members,
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is proposing legislation that would ban all 421 firms including the nation's largest banks that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events.
If this legislation is passed I don't need to tell you the profound impact it would have on the business travel industry and the nation's economy. This legislation would not only impact the affected companies, it would also have a chilling, immediate impact on all companies.
This media driven witch-hunt is scaring companies that have never taken a cent of TARP funds to cancel meetings because of the negative images being portrayed. This hurts travel managers, hotels, airlines, rental cars, EVERYONE!
It is estimated that without the jobs generated by meetings and conventions unemployment would jump from 7.6% to 8.2%!
You, as the expert in business travel, must educate Congress on the importance of managed travel and the benefits it brings. NBTA has issued a set of guidelines to the U.S. Treasury for effective managed travel based on your practices. See Guidelines. You have made travel for meetings and events a cost effective tool that help businesses grow. We need to give these real world practices time to work.
We can’t afford negative news stories to drive Congress to manage travel. You have to make sure our government knows that.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Tell Congress about your concerns. Urge them NOT to ban meetings. click here
Kevin Maguire, CCTE, GLP
President & CEO
National Business Travel Association
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