The Paragon Agreement is a formal relationship that supports an international collaborative effort to benefit the travel management profession and business travel industry by:
- advancing information and education resources for members of the participating associations;
- extending the global network of the business travel community;
- facilitating attendance at joint activities and enhancing global exposure of business travel professionals;
- advancing the understanding of the corporate travel profession before government organizations.
The Paragon Agreement was signed at the 34th Annual National Business Travel Association Convention in Salt Lake City on the 16th of July, 2002 by five founding members. Since its creation, the Partnership has grown to include the following members worldwide:
- Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV),
- Austrian Business Travel Association (ABTA- Austria),
- Danish Business Travel Association (DBTA),
- Finnish Business Travel Association (FBTA),
- Iberian Business Travel Association (IBTA),
- Institute of Travel Management (ITM ) for UK and Ireland, and the ITM South Africa subsidiary,
- Netherlands Association of Travel Management (NATM),
- National Business Travel Association (NBTA) from the US and its NBTA -Asia Pacific, NBTA Canada and NBTA Mexico subsidiaries,
- Norwegian Business Travel Association (Norwegian BTA)
- Swedish Business Travel Association (SBTA),and
- the Business Travel Association of Germany (VDR).
Together, the Paragon Partners represent about 6, 000 business travel buyers and suppliers. Members of the Paragon partner associations manage and direct $200 billion USD, which translates to more than €150 billion. The Partners believe that they enhance their service to their constituencies by working together to achieve their common goals. The Partnership strives to create a powerful central voice for the global business travel community.