THE ASSOCIATION OF Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and the US National Business Travel Association (NBTA) have announced new plans to merge.
An interim board of directors, with five members from each side, is being given two years to thrash out the details and come up with a new name for the combined organisation.
Previous attempts to merge have been stymied by ACTE's members outside North America, who fear that the united body would be too US-centric - only 40 per cent of ACTE's 2,000-plus members are based in the region.
However, ACTE president Richard Crum still insists: "The market place wants and needs a combination of the best of both organisations."