Business Travel Show 2014
Showbusiness!
This year’s Business Travel Show was the biggest and best for years. Tom Newcombe and Rob Gill report on two rewardingly hectic days
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ALMOST 1,000 HOSTED travel buyers attended this year’s 20th Business Travel Show at Earls Court in London, a rise of 37 per cent from 2013. Despite the second day being hit by a Tube strike, visitor numbers rose by 5 per cent and exhibitor numbers were up by 10 per cent from the previous year. A total of 6,475 people visited the show compared to 6,148 in 2013, for a busy two days of networking, learning and sourcing. There was also a hosted buyer programme, which featured an exclusive half-day pre-show conference and gala dinner. Exhibitors included HRG, Amadeus, Star Alliance, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Egencia, Travelodge, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, CWT, Concur and American Express.
The show was opened by CEO and president of Expedia, Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured, top right), who spoke about the future of travel and discussed the importance of Millennials, as well as the increasingly blurred lines between business and leisure (see Interview, p38).
David Chapple, event director, said:
“We’re delighted with the success of this year’s show – it was at its biggest and best for years. The floor was packed with many high-profile exhibitors returning after time away, and a long list of new companies. “Conference sessions were packed
out and visitor numbers were at their highest for seven years. It doesn’t surprise me that our visitors, who are seasoned and resourceful business travellers, refused to let the small matter of a Tube strike stand in their way of attending.” Buying Business Travel was once again official media partner to the show. Managing director Julian Gregory said: “We are very pleased to continue our partnership with this leading industry event. This was the busiest show we have experienced for the past few years, and for us it’s been a very useful platform to catch up with both buyers and suppliers over a hectic two-day period.” Here, BBT rounds up some of the top stories from the show...
■ MOBILE TECHNOLOGY: MANAGE IT OR LOSE CONTROL Travel buyers should embrace mobile technology and allow travellers to download the apps they want to use, but within a managed policy. A panel debate moderated by BBT
editor Paul Revel, entitled Mobile technology: friend or foe? heard both buyers and suppliers agree that mobile could not be ignored, although there needed to be some element of control. Joakim Everstin, customer innovations manager for Sabre, said: “Travel apps will find their way to the traveller regardless of whether the company you work for supports them or not. You need to have a clearly- defined mobile policy which allows the use of relevant apps – not only to control costs and stay within policy, but also to help make every traveller’s experience less painful.” Torsten Kriedt, vice-president of
planning and intelligence for BCD Travel, said that mobile “was neither a friend nor foe” for travel managers. “It’s just a technology that will not go away – you have to make sure you
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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