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Business travel lobbying “back to square one”
Friday, 10 May, 2010
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The GTMC is “almost back to square one” in terms of its influence as a lobbying organisation following the general election result.
According to chief executive Anne Godfrey (pictured), the hung parliament means that all bets are off when it comes to influencing the new government.
The good news is that most other lobbying groups are in exactly the same position, she added.
In her inaugural address at the GTMC annual overseas conference in Hong Kong, Godfrey told delegates: “The reason the GTMC can be a lobbying organisation is because everyone is behind what we are saying, it’s not all hot air.
“But we are almost back to square one. Come June or July how many of the contacts we have made over the past few months will still be there?”
However, she heaped praise on her predecessor Philip Carlisle who had done an enormous amount to get business travel on politicians’ radar.
“Gone are the days of politicians thinking all travel is two weeks in the sun with a bucket and spade.
“Thanks to Philip [Carlisle] they now recognise business travel as a separate entity in its own right.”
When asked how much hope the GTMC now has to be heard in Westminster, she outlined the advantages the GTMC has over other lobbying groups, which include: very focused and undiluted information; information with a high intellectual content; and the fact that business travel is a very niche market.
“This makes it easier to get across to politicians that business travel is important to the UK as a whole,” she added.
Godfrey also announced that the survey of members’ clients conducted earlier this year and which formed the basis of the GTMC manifesto will be re-run later this year.
The manifesto, launched in January, was drawn from 1,400 responses from business travellers – a figure which Godfrey described as “incredible”.
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