NBTA Praises Pro-business Move by U.S. Department of Agriculture
Association Successfully Fends Off Another Travel Fee Hike
ALEXANDRIA, VA, November 5, 2009 - The National Business Travel Association (NBTA), the voice of the business travel industry, today praised the decision of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to withdraw the plan for a 10 percent increase of fees paid by incoming travelers to the United States.
NBTA Executive Director & COO, Michael W. McCormick, said, "NBTA is proud to once again stand up for over-taxed travelers. We joined with associations representing other segments of the travel and transportation industries in reaching out to APHIS, and within days the agency announced it would withdraw the fee hike. I commend USDA and APHIS officials for recognizing our concerns with the steep increases in the APHIS fee over the last five years and the tremendous burden those increases have placed on businesses. Keeping the fee in check represents a much-needed victory for international business travel to the United States."
In a letter to APHIS, NBTA noted that the fee has increased by 61 percent since January 2005 and estimated that increases have cost businesses an additional $500 million in fees over five years. The recent fee hike proposal would have set up a total increase of 77 percent over five years.
McCormick added, “Business travel decisions -- particularly those related to meeting planning -- are more price-driven than ever. So as companies turn to business travel to help drive economic recovery over the coming year, it is important that governments don't pile on to the already overbearing tax burden faced by travelers.”
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world's premier business travel and corporate meetings organization. NBTA and its regional affiliates - NBTA Asia Pacific, the Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV), NBTA Canada, NBTA Mexico and NBTA USA - serve a network of more than 15,000 business travel professionals around the globe with industry-leading events, networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy. NBTA members, numbering more than 4,000 in 30 nations, are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers. They collectively manage and direct more than US$200 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually on behalf of more than 10 million business travelers within their organizations. For more information, visit www.nbta.org.
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