At last, winter is over and as vaccines are being rolled out across Europe I am looking forward to brighter days and a return to travel. GBTA is lobbying hard for governments to adopt a co-ordinated approach to manage this process and support the implementation of important initiatives such as the EU digital green certificate to validate fitness to travel.

In terms of preparing for the return to travel, please take a look at the globally curated Ready. Safe. Travel Training Programme – 5-26 May 2021 that delivers essential information to help transition business travel and meetings and its practices beyond the pandemic. Learn more >>

I am also very excited to tell you that GBTA is delivering a half day virtual conference on 26th May, as part of the Arabian Travel Market. This event will feature expert speakers from the Middle Eastern region as well some European and US contributors. Learn More >>

As you may be aware the GBTA Bylaw taskforce has announced its findings, and as GBTA CEO, Suzanne Neufang shared last week, we are seeking your votes on a wide range of changes to the GBTA Bylaws as well as the election of a new Board of Directors this summer. Given the nature of the votes, GBTA will be conducting a Special Election. 

Over the coming months, you will have the opportunity to: 

• Give all active members the ability to vote on changes to the bylaws 
• Give active global members of the association outside of the U.S., the ability to have representation and voting rights on the GBTA Board of Directors 
• Remove the Indirect category to give all paying members the right to vote 
• Limit the number of terms that members can serve on the GBTA Board of Directors 
• Reduce the requirements for a candidate to run for the GBTA Board of Directors 
• Allow all active members to vote on at-large seats for the GBTA Board of Directors, as well as Association Board President and Vice President 
• Better define membership rights 

The first set of votes will take place from 19 April  to 2 May 2021. The vote on a second set of Bylaws and ultimately a vote on the 2021 Board of Directors will occur through July 2021. 

I would like to thank Rita Visser and Will Pinnell from our global board for leading this global work stream and all of the members who participated in this important global project, including a number of our European members.  We have listened to what you feel is important to you, after all, this is your association, and I’m so pleased that we can really start to see change in the making, driven by our members, for our members. I would urge those of you who are eligible to vote to do so. Lets continue to make sure our European voice is heard.

I hope that you will be able to join us for the European Town Hall on Thursday 15th April at 1400 UK / 1500 CET. In addition to the latest GBTA news, the Europe Risk Committee will be tackling some of the burning issues around COVID travel measures, debunking myths and misinformation. Learn More >> 

I look forward to seeing you there.


Mark
Chair
GBTA Europe Advisory Board