Light the blue touch paper, don your tin helmet, and stand back even
further than usual… here are the 19th Gongs In Travel, or GITs, my
annual entirely arbitrary, partisan awards no one in their right mind would want
on their office wall. Except, that is, one multiple recipient this year who
seems not to mind any trophies, no matter how ludicrous, being thrust into his perma-tanned
hands.
The Replica Plastic Melted Iceberg for Eco-Warrior of the Year 2025
Winner: Donald Trump
Given his commitment to “drill, baby, drill”, dismissal of human-induced
climate change as a hoax, suppression of renewable energy initiatives and so
much more, this could be considered a contentious choice. But ponder this: in the
first ten months of Mr Trump’s second presidential term, domestic air demand
fell 0.5 per cent while globally air demand shot up 5.3 per cent, according to
IATA. US international demand has fared little better. Why? Well, where do you
want to start? Tariffs, slashing government employee travel, air traffic
control restrictions after the federal shutdown, banning visitors from some
countries, being rude to Canadians (visitor numbers down 21 per cent) and threatening
Denmark over Greenland (visitors down 20 per cent) are just some reasons. A
worthy winner.
Nostradamus Crystal Balls for Most Uncannily Accurate Prediction
Winner: Er… Amon Cohen
I orginally dished out the eco-warrior accolade to the incoming US
president in last year’s GITs, correctly anticipating he would do more in his
first year to reduce aviation emissions than nemesis Greta Thunberg could ever
dream of. It's amazing what trade tariffs and tightened immigration can do to curb air travel and carbon emissions. Stupidly, however, it never crossed my mind that this might be only the
second most ridiculous award El Presidente would win in 2025 – step
forward Gianni Infantino brandishing the newly created Fifa Peace Prize.
The Liam and Noel Gallagher Golden Fist For Getting Into Fights
Winner: Sabre (again)
I suppose if you name your company after a weapon, this kind of thing
should be expected, and Sabre duly makes the GITs most years for one type of
dispute or another. After falling out with American, Hawaiian and Turkish
airlines in 2024, this time the boys and girls in Dallas are sueing British
Airways over whether the airline should be reimbursing the tech giant for $450,000
of digital services tax payments in the United Kingdom. Just to be clear, Sabre
doesn’t enjoy calling in the lawyers – the company noted it was only taking long-standing customer BA to court
“grudgingly”.
The Hartley’s Glass Jar for Putting Jam on The Cohen Family Table in
2025
Winner: TMC acquisitions
Runner-up: AI
Artificial intelligence was the most ubiquitous trend this year but in
our arcane little world of corporate travel the big story was lots of travel
management companies buying each other. American Express Global Business Travel (number 1 in Europe) finally
buying what remained of CWT (number 3) was the headline act. But ATG Travel
Worldwide, ATPI, Key Travel and Havas Voyages/Ailleurs Business parent
Marietton Développement all got in on the act too. Lots of question marks for
travel managers, lots to write about for me, and Champagne all round for the many consultants
being commissioned to figure out if buyers should stick with TMCs they hadn’t
chosen but now handle their travel programmes anyway. A couple of weeks ago I
facilitated a round table for 18 travel managers. A dozen were now Amex GBT
clients but only one of them had actually appointed Amex GBT in a
tender.
Joseph Stalin Siberian Salt Miner’s Helmet For Most Unreasonable
Working Conditions In Travel
Winner: US air traffic controllers
Was it just me or did anyone else’s jaw drop when they learned that air
traffic controllers in the US were legally obliged to carry on working even
when their employer the US government stopped paying them during the 43-day Federal
shutdown? It was a huge testament to these heroic workers that there were no air
traffic catastrophes during this period. Not surprisingly, after a while so
many of them started to take sick leave, either because they were forced to
take second jobs or because the stress had made them ill, that the Federal
Aviation Administration had to reduce flights. And how did President Trump
respond to ther plight? By threatening to have the pay they weren’t receiving anyway
“substantially docked” unless they stopped reporting sick.
The Solitary Red Rose To Mark The Death Of Romance In Business Travel
Winner: CWT (RIP)
It had lived on for a decade only as a ghostly single letter, but when Amex GBT completed its acquisition of
CWT in September, that seemed the end of the line for one of the oldest, most
resonant names in corporate travel. The “W” in CWT derived from one-time
part-owner Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which in 1872 launched
sleeper trains on rail routes across Europe. The Orient Express was one such
service. In 1894 the company began opening luxurious hotels from Paris to
Beijing, and in the mid 20th-century expanded its travel agency
business. Wagons-Lits lives on in reduced form as the railway division of French
catering group Newrest. But for business travel, and memories of a more
glamorous age than the current one of Ryanair and Travelodges, we must now say adieu.
The Paracetamol Cup For Most Likely Travel Manager Headache in 2026
Winner: Donald Trump
Runner-up: TMC turmoil
These are uncertain times for TMC customers. Whether you became an Amex
GBT client by choice or by acquisition, the bombshell then dropped in November that
Amex GBT is reportedly for sale itself. Meanwhile, question marks hang over CTM
as it stumps up the cash to refund shortchanged clients, waits to see when it
can resume trading as a public company, submits to government investigations and
braces itself for potential lawsuits. But such challenges could be a picnic for
travel managers if the ticking time bomb of President Trump’s 20 January
Executive Order vowing to vet and screen visitors “to the maximum degree” finally
explodes. A proposal published this month in compliance with that order
includes requiring visa waiver travellers to submit five years of social media history
to receive their travel authorisation, not to mention all phone numbers and
addresses for that period. Since a) the same Executive Order stated visitors
must not “bear hostile attitudes towards it citizens, culture, government,
institutions, or founding principles” and b) it is not unknown for people to
exchange on social media commentary and memes not entirely flattering towards
Mr Trump, it follows that c) overseeing employee travel to the USA could become
a little awkward in 2026.
• Revisit the 18th annual GITs (2024), the 17th annual GITs (2023), the 16th annual GITs (2022), the 15th annual GITs (2021).