According to two reports published by ICANN.org its spent over almost $1.5 Million in transporting, housing, feeding and for Visa’s for 379 NON-ICANN staff to attend the last two ICANN meetings.
ICANN of course pays for its own staff’s air travel, hotel and Per Diem fees to compensate for meals, even the cost of Visa’s to get people into the country, but ICANN also paid those costs not for non-staffers as well.
Included in the totals are funds ICANN expended to send members of the GAC to the conferences. You would think the underlying countries would pay the expense of sending its representatives to the ICANN meeting but 39 GAC members had their Airtravel, Hotel and Visa expenses paid for as well as over $22K in Per Diem Expenses
In reports for the last two ICANN meetings held in Beijing and Durban ICANN spent on NON STAFFERS:
Here is the report for Beijing:
| Group | Airfare | Hotel | Per Diem | Visas | TOTAL | # of Attendees |
| ALAC | $45,727.48 | $19,320.00 | $13,740.00 | $1,786.03 | $81,471.33 | 24 |
| ALAC – APRALO | $26,609.24 | $14,883.00 | $11,000.00 | $1,175.85 | $54,026.97 | 23 |
| ATRT | $6,897.60 | $4,680.00 | $107.09 | $340.00 | $12,024.69 | 10 |
| ccNSO | $25,055.40 | $8,400.00 | $6,660.00 | $161.00 | $40,500.64 | 14 |
| EWG | $32,864 | $5,280.00 | $- | $502.29 | $38,646.29 | 9 |
| Fellow | $55,699.06 | $25,740.00 | $17,500.00 | $1,631.36 | $100,786.74 | 35 |
| GAC | $30,823.32 | $17,400.00 | $12,180.00 | $914.00 | $61,480.47 | 17 |
| GNSO | $36,396.19 | $16,680.00 | $12,060.00 | $1,379.45 | $66,515.64 | 20 |
| GNSO – FY13 | $39,094.49 | $14,880.00 | $10,980.00 | $1,221.00 | $66,384.22 | 19 |
| LACWG | $3,918.84 | $1,440.00 | $1,320.00 | $51.00 | $6,729.84 | 2 |
| NomCom | $49,429.52 | $13,808.27 | $3,557.27 | $767.57 | $67,562.63 | 21 |
| SSAC | $7,980.97 | $3,960.00 | $2,700.00 | $159.00 | $14,799.97 | 5 |
| SSAC – FY13 | $9,255.80 | $3,480.00 | $2,520.00 | $394.00 | $15,649.80 | 5 |
| MSWG | $2,491 | $720.00 | $- | $333.00 | $3,544.00 | 2 |
| $372,242.91 | $150,671.27 | $94,324.36 | $10,815.55 | $630,123.23 | 206 |
Here is the expenses ICANN paid for non-staffers for Durban:
| Group | Airfare | Hotel | Per Diem | Visas | TOTAL | # of Attendees |
| ALAC | $64,095.48 | $27,200.00 | $10,650.00 | $307.00 | $102,431.04 | 8 |
| ATRT | $23,258.83 | $10,080.00 | $- | $- | $33,338.83 | 9 |
| ccNSO | $30,976.83 | $12,420.00 | $5,850.00 | $147.00 | $49,393.83 | 12 |
| Communications Panel | $6,260.00 | $8,800.00 | $2,000.00 | $100.00 | $17,160.00 | 8 |
| EWG | $57,816.85 | $6,660.00 | $- | $- | $64,834.55 | 8 |
| Fellow | $61,779.55 | $33,300.00 | $14,800.00 | $612.00 | $110,641.29 | 30 |
| GAC | $50,526.36 | $27,200.00 | $10,300.00 | $30.00 | $88,747.39 | 22 |
| GNSO | $64,511.11 | $22,320.00 | $10,200.00 | $- | $97,031.11 | 20 |
| GNSO – FY14 | $51,579.59 | $21,240.00 | $9,200.00 | $- | $82,019.59 | 18 |
| MSWG | $16,150.20 | $3,600.00 | $2,800.00 | $56.00 | $22,606.20 | 6 |
| NomCom | $85,416.44 | $20,520.00 | $272.60 | $45.00 | $106,609.08 | 20 |
| NomCom SOI | $12,285.53 | $2,469.76 | $1,300.00 | $- | $16,055.29 | 3 |
| SSAC | $31,631.49 | $10,620.00 | $4,400.00 | $- | $46,651.49 | 9 |
| $556,288.26 | $206,429.76 | $71,772.60 | $1,297.00 | $837,519.69 | 173 |
This freeloading has been going on for many years, and is getting worse. It was called “Club Med for Geeks” for a reason.
In addition to the above costs, ICANN developed a couple of regional strategies this year (Middle East Strategy, Asia Strategy, Latin American Strategy… etc), and all of them required funding Internet experts from respective regions to attend such events and contribute to the discussions.