The aim of the Taskforce in releasing the report is to spur significant and wide-reaching changes to adequately prepare the corporate travel industry, representing a projected US$1.4 billion in spend pre-COVID-19, for the return of meetings and travel as well as the next global outbreak.
PALM BEACH – The Travel and Meetings Standards (TAMS) Taskforce released their corporate travel standards report. Titled S.O.S. – The Standards of Safety in Business Travel, the report aims to help guide organizations, suppliers and institutions in developing their own business travel policies and standards.
The Taskforce is a global, independent coalition of more than 180 corporate travel professionals from some of the most significant brands in travel (Marriott, Accor, Hilton, Airbnb, Booking.com, United, American Airlines, Sabre) and some of the largest corporate travel programs by air volume.
The aim of the Taskforce in releasing the report is to spur significant and wide-reaching changes to adequately prepare the corporate travel industry, representing a projected US$1.4 billion in spend pre-COVID-19, for the return of meetings and travel as well as the next global outbreak.
The report’s standards are broken down into phases:
- A global pandemic is declared by the World Health Organization
- A destination city is moving into or out of a pandemic/epidemic
- A pandemic/epidemic declaration is no longer in force
The report also outlines standards for six travel dimensions: air, lodging, ground transportation, rail, meetings and events, and travel management companies/online booking tools/global distribution systems.
“Frankly, the COVID-19 pandemic caught the travel industry off guard,” said Susan Lichtenstein, TAMS Taskforce Chair and DigiTravel Consulting Managing Partner. “In the early days, the critical path forward was to try to get people home, keep travelers safe, and stop the spread. But now, as the travel industry prepares to come out of the pandemic, we’re left with more questions than answers about how suppliers, corporations and individual travelers should behave. That’s where the idea for TAMS came from – to set standards and policies for our industry and to create the standards jointly to make adoption easier.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
