Green Travel Summit to Feature Cost Reduction and CSR for Positive ROI

CNN’s Olivia Zaleski, sustainable experts David Refkin & Auden Schendler, EPA’s Harry Lewis to address sustainability in business

The Green Travel Summit,the first fully dedicated forum focused on exploring green travel strategies and their impact on business travel and corporate meetings, announced its line up of speakers. They include Olivia Zaleski, Host of the CNN program, ‘The Business of Green’, Auden Schendler, Executive Director, Aspen Skiing Company, David Refkin, former Director of Sustainable Development, Time Inc. and Harry Lewis, Attorney Advisor U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Green Travel Summit, to be held at the Fairmont, Newport Beach, California, March 23-24, 2009 will assemble executives from a cross-section of the travel industry including: corporate travel buyers, managers, meeting and incentive planners as well as travel marketing executives, corporate travel suppliers and destination marketing organizations.

Corporations are accelerating their efforts to create enterprise-wide sustainability strategies not only to address the climate change issue, but also to realize cost savings and position themselves for competitive advantage.

With travel being the second largest variable expense for organizations – there is a real opportunity to attain measurable cost savings, reduced carbon mission liability and to stand out in the marketplace.

Green to Green strategies have evolved to become a real driver of ROI, but only if they are designed and implemented properly. The Green Travel Summit focuses on the strategies, measurement tools and implementation tactics to prepare executives in developing a green travel and meetings strategy that is right for their organizations.

Attendees will hear from the industry visionaries, experts and peers who have taken the green journey already. Topics to be discussed at Green Travel Summit will include:

• Recession Proofing Your Travel Program with CSR;
• The Effects of Global Climate Change on the Business of Travel;
• The ROI of Green & The Journey of Getting There;
• The Greening of Hotels & Venues;
• Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines;
• The Green Journey: Traveling Smarter by Focusing on Demand and Change Management.

Panelists include Frank Schnur, Innovation VP, Global Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel, Leilani Latimer, Director Sustainability Initiatives, Sabre Holdings and Guido Bauer Green Globe Green Hotel Certification CEO.

NBTA will launch its Corporate CSR Awards honoring companies for innovative, environmentally responsible programs and Meeting News will re-launch its “Planners Choice Award showcasing the best green program from a hotel, conference center, CVB or gaming facility.

“The Summit is long overdue and necessary for our members to have the opportunity to share and exchange ideas on this critical topic”, says Suzanne Fletcher, Past President, National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and Chair, NBTA CSR Awards Committee. “What a perfect venue to share our results and our industry’s best!”

Other industries sharing their experiences include an Airline Panel hosted by SkyTeam, Virtual Meeting providers through a panel hosted by Maritz Travel, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and the Intercontinental Hotel Group. To round out the Summit, organizers have created a portion of the program specifically focused on implementation.

This will be the toolset that attendees can take home with them on how to put their green plan into action. The concept takes into account guiding travel managers, procurement directors, meeting and event planners through how to create a marketing message, how relatively small changes can help them make smarter economic and environmental decisions, guidelines for green meetings and how to assess, design and implement a responsible travel program.

“The issue of green in the business and meeting travel arena is not going away’ said John Golicz, CEO of Unicomm LLC, organizers of the summit. “In developing this event, we knew it was critical that we address all aspects of the issue with a view to allowing the attendee to take away concrete guidelines and specific models to improve or start their own CSR Programs. As we watched the global economy transform, it became apparent that there was also an imperative to focus on the ROI of green,” he continued.