Sustainability – Essential Factor Influencing Business Travel Strategy _ Green Travel Summit

Top CSR Leaders Define the Future of Responsible Meetings, Incentive and Corporate Travel

Unicomm LLC, producers of the Green Travel SummitTM, concluded the conference with a never before assembled group of travel industry leaders and visionaries working on sustainability within the corporate travel, meetings & incentives industries.

The event included two days of industry expert commentary, high-level networking and discussions on topics ranging from certification standards, defining change management, green washing, the benefits and drawbacks of carbon offsets with attendees indentifying their top ten challenges to instituting green initiatives within their corporations.

“After two intense days of discussion and debate, it is absolutely clear that green travel will continue to be a critical component in travel management and meeting planning for corporations,” said John Golicz, CEO Unicomm LLC. “The event has become a catalyst for this conversation and paves the way for a much larger industry forum next year as this issue accelerates,” he continued.

More than 150 leading industry executives and press from U.S., Canada, France, United Kingdom and the Caribbean met at the Fairmont Hotel, Newport Beach. Attendees who are shaping the future of green travel included a “who’s who” list of executives discussing the opportunities and challenges of implementing green travel strategies while demonstrating ROI through significant cost savings.

“… it could be argued that throughout the travel supply chain there is a pressing need to define, monetize and effectively communicate the green travel proposition. The Green Travel Summit provides a useful forum in which to evolve this important agenda," said Stephen Stokes, VP Sustainability & Green Technology AMR Research.

"I was pleasantly surprised by the many practical solutions that participants can implement immediately to reduce their impact on the environment through their travel and meetings programs, said Frank Schnur, Innovation VP, Global Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel."

Key Green Travel Summit Highlights included:

o Attendees “cooperatively” identifying the top ten challenges to greening corporate travel and meetings.

o insight into the procurement practices, regulations and budgets of government agencies.

o Winners of the NBTA first CSR Awards

o Olivia Zaleski, Host “The Business of Green

o Frank Schnur Innovation VP, Global Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel – to effect real savings while greening a travel program.

o Auden Schendler, Executive Director, Sustainability, Aspen Skiing Company professional challenges, opinions and predictions on “Getting Green Done.”

o David Refkin, Keynote Presentation giving an in depth look at climate change and its challenges.

o Christian Callieri, A.T. Kearney, Randy Krumpek, Global Sourcing Manager, Travel & Meetings, Sun Micro Systems and Lydia Walsh, American Express Business Travel Global Advisory Services, sharing standards and modules for building a responsible travel program.

“Environmental sustainability is part of a long term business strategy and incorporating it into corporate travel is no exception. The sessions at the Green Travel Summit were instrumental in educating travel professionals on how to get started and how to overcome some of the challenges they encounter every day,” said Leilani Latimer, Director, Sustainability, Sabre Holdings

The Green Travel Summit attracted premier organizations serving the corporate travel and meetings industry including American Express Business Travel who joined the event as Presenting Sponsor, Co-sponsor National Business Travel Association (NBTA), Intercontinental Hotel Group as Gold Partner, Maritz Travel and American Airlines as Silver Partners, BCD Travel and TRX as Bronze Partners. The Fairmont Hotel, Newport Beach was the Official Hotel, SkyTeam the Official Airline Partner and EcoSecurities the Official Carbon Offset Provider. The Association of Travel Marketing Executives

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