“By involving all parts of the business
from HR up to chief executive, then you will have the power to get your message across the whole business. “Trying to get buy-in at senior level is
key to drive your security message. Ensure all departments are aligned and also check you are involving other interested parties, such as your travellers’ family,” he added.
SHANGHAI DOWN, TEL AVIV UP A study released at the show by
American Express Global Business Travel showed UK business travel bookings to China dropped 17 per cent in 2015 com- pared to the previous year. The research found the year-on-year
assets. Businesses need to be increasingly risk-savvy. They need to make risk part of their daily business calculations and respond accordingly. “Furthermore, they must ensure their people understand their approach, while sharing responsibility for risk management across multiple departments.”
NDC ‘TAKING TOO LONG’ The airline industry has been criticised
for being “too slow” in introducing changes to how it sells ancillary products using its New Distribution Capability (NDC) project. IATA unveiled new technology stan-
dards as part of NDC five months ago. These are designed to create a more personalised way of selling flights and ancillaries through TMCs and other indirect channels.
But panellists during a discussion on NDC at the show said that airlines needed to speed up the process of implementing these changes.
ITM chairman Mark Cuschieri said:
“We are very supportive of NDC because it could be potentially beneficial. But it’s not happening fast enough. “Anything that enriches content has got to be a good thing. We want transpar- ency to ensure that an informed choice can be made at the point of sale. Where it differentiates on price – that raises concerns for us. “Buyers are not averse to change but
they don’t have the tools in the market to enable this to happen.”
Cuschieri added that self-booking tools
provided by corporate travel suppliers currently lacked the same functional-
78 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016
ity and content offered by airlines’ own consumer websites and platforms. Moshe Rafiah, CEO of airline tech- nology provider Travel Fusion, said: “The vision is great and the promise is there. But when you focus on the ground, prog- ress is painfully slow.” He added that NDC could effectively find itself “bypassed” by other technology developments in the next few years. Amadeus’ UK managing director Champa Magesh said that buyers should not have to care about technology stan- dards such as NDC. “Travel buyers should not have to worry about it if companies are doing the job properly,” she said.
SENIOR BUY-IN CRUCIAL Buyers should work with all stakeholders
within their business to ensure a suc- cessful implementation of a travel risk policy, the regional security manager at International SOS said. Peter Cooper said security managers
can be “a bit insular” and so buyers should “break out of those silos” and operate across all areas of the business.
NDC could effectively find itself “bypassed” by other technology developments in the next few years
decrease reflects the “international con- cerns” about the country’s current eco- nomic situation. The data shows China’s economic hub Shanghai has fallen out of the global top 10 list. North America dominates interna- tional bookings outside of Europe with four cities in the top 10, but emerging economies and technology hubs are also popular. New York and San Francisco lead bookings made by UK-based trav- ellers according to Amex GBT‘s booking data for 2015. The study said the presence of Johannesburg and Mumbai “cements” the importance of emerging markets to UK businesses. Tel Aviv, absent from last year’s rank-
ings, is in eighth position, indicating in- creased interest in the city’s renowned “start-up ecosystem”. Within Europe, Amsterdam remains the most popular business travel destina- tion for UK-based business travellers.
NEW PRODUCTS AND REBRANDS A number of exhibitors used the show to
launch new products and make company announcements. Chambers Travel Group unveiled its rebrand to Corporate Travel Management following its purchase by the Australian-based firm last year. TMC Egencia added Uber and Citymapper to its Tripnavigator app, while CTI announced a partnership with expense management company Concur. HRG launched a new benchmark- ing tool, Optiview, and Business Travel Direct used the show to introduce a series of enhancements from hotel shopping tool Tripbam.
The show also saw serviced apartment
firm SACO launch Myco – a new booking tool for buyers – and Traveldoo announced the growth of its UK sales team as part of a global expansion drive.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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