The Trump administration's new travel ban has some corporate
travel managers concerned, according to a survey of members of the Association
of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE).
Seventeen percent of respondents are "somewhat"
rethinking conducting business with the U.S. and 4% are "significantly"
considering it.
However, 66% said they were not rethinking conducting
business in the U.S., while the remaining 13% said the question does not apply
to them.
Fifty percent said the new travel ban either would not pose
travel difficulties for their companies and 5% said the question does not apply,
but 39% said it would pose difficulties and 6% said it would "significantly"
pose difficulties.
Asked if their companies had recently canceled meetings in
the U.S., 91% of those surveyed said their company had not, but 9% responded
that their company had.
Meanwhile, 21% said travelers have "somewhat"
reported harassment or delays crossing the U.S. border since the first ban was
put in place, and 1% said their travelers had "significantly" seen
delays or harassment. The remaining 78% said their travelers had not
experienced delays or harassment.
The majority said the first ban or the new ban has
heightened threat awareness when traveling abroad, with 41% saying it had "somewhat,"
and 14% saying it had "significantly." Forty-five percent said it had
not.
"Though the numbers clearly indicate that there is no
change in travel nor travel planning for the majority of companies doing
business in the U.S., a seed has been planted within 21% of survey respondents,"
ACTE executive director Greeley Koch said. "The U.S. does not need any
excuse for companies to prefer travel to other countries. Ultimately, we are
talking about jobs here. Jobs at the airports, in hotels, in surface
transportation and in restaurants. The business travel community is weighing
the benefits of this ban against its more obvious liabilities."
The ACTE polled 400 global business travel managers via
email Monday and had 125 responses.