With American Thanksgiving taking place this week here in the US, it’s a great time to reflect with all of you on five things that I – and we, as an industry – can be grateful for as we head into the final weeks of 2024.

Business travel is back – with a new normal. We are poised to break global business travel spending records before the end of this year (potentially reaching $1.5 trillion USD for the first time). And within that spending, across all major markets, both buyers and suppliers are engaged in constructing a more sustainable future with and for our industry.

National and regional policy makers are more in tune than ever with the difference between tourism/leisure travel and travel for work/business – and understand more now why business travel is foundational for economies, organizations and careers to thrive. This understanding has helped us advance important conversations in Washington, DC, Brussels and other key cities around the world. (And it gives us a platform to celebrate the ongoing continuation of blended travel, which connects us with our leisure travel cousins.)

Technology has an ever-growing capacity to make and keep our industry efficient, productive, and on-the-move. Startups are active again within the business travel space – even while mature supplier companies are investing heavily in their own technology advancements. This means our industry cannot remain static or become stale, while new inventions, use cases and even conference content must come together to foster further debate, collaboration and understanding.

The people in our industry continue to impress me in every corner of the world. From inventing and then sharing best practices, to building trusted partnerships for mutual success, this industry is and always has been built on tightly connected technology and people networks. Serving those who travel for work within and through our organizations is a 24x7 job. You manage these jobs with expertise, amazing work ethic and a creative spirit that would be hard to find in any other industry.

Our members. GBTA is a member-driven organization that focuses a lot on bringing people together, but we’re more than just our annual convention and conferences. We are privileged to be the face and voice of our members and volunteers on the topics mentioned here – and also many more – to make this an industry where we can all continue to come together, collaborate, mentor one other, do business together, and find lasting success.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate – and thanks to everyone for all you do to keep our industry vibrant!

Suzanne