The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Board of Directors today announced that they have canceled its fall conference. The conference, which was originally scheduled for this month in Denver, was pushed back to November early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The association was hopeful that the massive annual event, which draws thousands of worldwide attendees and vendors from all sectors of business travel, would be held at a time when things were getting back to normal for travel professionals.
The move was not altogether unexpected as GBTA leadership monitored the situation closely. Although there was mixed demand from association members, according to GBTA surveys, the current conditions made it impossible.
From the letter:
“Over the past few months, GBTA staff and leadership have explored every option possible to proceed with the association’s 2020 Convention set for November in Denver, Colorado. That said, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spike globally and the Denver Convention Center dedicated to a temporary medical facility, the convention center cannot be made available to us for our November dates so they have had to cancel our event.
"We understand that this decision may come as a disappointment to you exactly as it has to each of us, as we, too, very much look forward to what annually represents ‘The Business Travel Event of the Year®.’ One of the unfortunate realities of this pandemic and its many accompanying challenges has been its outsized impact on business travel and our industry worldwide. We, too, had looked forward to reconnecting this year at GBTA Convention 2020, to draw strength from one another and to share best practices and creative, collaborative ideas for how to succeed in such an unprecedented and challenging environment.”
GBTA says that it will have additional information about “the next steps” in the coming days.
Visit gbta.org for more information.
[07.09.20]