The National Business Travel Association has officially rebranded as the Global Business Travel Association.
In an e-mail to members announcing the rebranding of the National Business Travel Association to the Global Business Travel Association, Executive Director and COO Mike McCormick discussed the benefits to members of a more international, interconnected association. The changes, he wrote, will bring “a broader global focus and new member features and benefits which have been refined and expanded so the organization is better aligned with your professional needs.”
The move toward a global mission and name change was announced last August at the association’s national convention in Houston. In January 2010, NBTA announced the creation of NBTA Europe, a combination of partnerships with several European meetings associations, including the Institute of Travel and Meetings in the U.K. and Ireland, representing 2,000 members.
Now, GBTA’s 5,000 total members will be able to attend networking and educational events around the world, many of which will be complimentary for members (for example, the Latin America Corporate Travel and Technology Exchange, or LACTTE, held February 20 to 22 in Sao Paolo, Brazil).
Other member benefits, according to McCormick, will be free registration to all GBTA webinars and development of “global benchmarking tools.” GBTA is also connecting its internal committees and working groups across the globe (including the Groups and Meetings Committee, which is focused on strategic meetings management best practices) to create “an internationally driven and interconnected committee network offering global guidance.”
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