The Association of Corporate Travel Executives has ceased operations and announced that it will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after 32 years in business. ACTE will liquidate its assets and disband following a notice on the association’s website.
The ACTE stated that it could not withstand the aftereffects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the 2019 ACTE Global Summit in Macau due to protests in Hong Kong last year. The association was also forced to cancel its New York Global summit, which was set to take place in April 2020.
“Our discussions have been broad and deep with strong indication that we would be successful, but recent Covid -19 spikes have made investors and partners justifiably pessimistic around the viability of event-based organizations for some time to come,” according to the statement. “At this stage, the fiscally, and morally, responsible next step for us to do, is to cease operations and defer to a trustee to determine the distribution of payments to creditors.”
The association tried to combat costs by suspending all activities throughout May but were unfortunately unable to survive.
“For our members and sponsors, we want to say how deeply disappointed we are that we have not been able to continue our operations,” according to the statement. “When we opened ACTEConnect for the whole industry, we were inspired to see the resiliency of our community and the determination to rebuild. We regret we have not been able to find a lifeline to allow ACTE to continue to play a role in your recovery.”
