NBTA -
Caleb Tiller
, 703-684-0836, ext. 138
Canadian Alliance - Tanya Racz, 403-503-0431
Alexandria, VA and Calgary, AB (May 30, 2006) -- The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and the Canadian Alliance of Business Travel today praised a U.S. Senate measure designed to ameliorate the challenges posed to U.S.-Canada business travel by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). An amendment to the Senate border security bill, introduced by Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), would make more affordable and available the secure documents travelers would be required to present in order to enter the United States when traveling from other nations in the Western Hemisphere, and would ensure that WHTI’s border-crossing requirements would not go into effect until proven not to impede cross-border travel. The earliest possible implementation of WHTI would be extended from January 1, 2008 to June 1, 2009.
NBTA Executive Director & COO, Bill Connors, CTC, said, “NBTA and the Canadian Alliance of Business Travel have been advocating for changes to the WHTI timeline that would enable appropriate communications of the requirements to the business travelers who drive commerce throughout the Western Hemisphere. The easy passage of this amendment demonstrates that our message has been heard in the United States Senate. In fact, this is the second Senate measure on this issue to pass in as many weeks. While we fully recognize that the legislation is likely to change significantly in conference, we urge the WHTI changes be included in the final bill.”
NBTA and the Canadian Alliance have advocated on behalf of the business travel community for a unified deadline for documentation requirements for air, land, and sea border crossings; a later deadline paired with a major campaign to inform the public of the new requirements; and the full development of widely available travel documents accepted as an alternative to a passport, such as the PASS program card and the all-in-one NEXUS Air, land and sea cards. The groups have filed comments with the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, voiced their opinions to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, informed the business travel community, and supported efforts to raise awareness of the issue.
Connors continued, “In today’s world, the challenges of travel security and passenger facilitation go hand-in-hand. NBTA is pleased to be the representative of the business travel community working to ensure that travel security initiatives such as TSA’s Registered Traveler, the PASS card program under development by the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and the e-passports under development by State facilitate fast, secure travel for business travelers while protecting privacy.”
About the Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance of Business Travel is the premiere professional travel management association in Canada. The alliance is dedicated to providing an educational environment for corporate travel executives to exchange best practices and collectively foster strategies for success within the business travel industry. We are committed to providing integral benchmarking data and educational exchanges for companies in Canada and abroad. The Canadian Alliance is the Canadian affiliate of the U.S.-based National Business Travel Association (NBTA). For more on the Canadian Alliance, see www.canadian-alliance.travel.
About NBTA
The National Business Travel Association is the source for critical information on the business travel industry. For more than 35 years, NBTA has dedicated itself to the professional development of its members through advocacy, education and training, and networking opportunities. NBTA represents over 2,700 corporate and government travel managers and travel service providers, who collectively manage and direct more than $170 billion of expenditures within the business travel industry. For more on NBTA, visit www.nbta.org.
###