conference GBTA Europe
Molly Dyson joined delegates at the GBTA Europe conference to report for BBT, which is official UK media partner to the event, held in association with VDR in Frankfurt
conference at the Messe Frankfurt conven- tion centre, attended by delegates and sup- pliers from across Europe. The opening session featured a panel discussion led by Caroline Strachan, managing partner at Festive Road, on how travel managers can move beyond a focus on price to concentrate on the value of their programmes. Next, Catherine McGavock, regional vice-president of GBTA’s Europe chapter, was joined by an ‘artificial intel- ligence’ voiced by VDR executive director Hans-Ingo Biehl to lead a discussion on the ways AI will influence the travel industry.
A
MANAGEMENT SYNERGIES A breakout session created in partnership with Meeting Professionals International (MPI), showed delegates how they can combine elements of meeting management into their travel programme, with panel chair Betsy Bondurant of Bondurant Consulting saying there are synergies in both departments. She maintained that meetings
and events are the “final frontier” of unmanaged spend. All three panellists agreed that there are potential cost savings to bringing event management under the
24 BBT January/February 2018
RTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, value vs. cost, and the ‘last frontier’ of unmanaged travel were among the topics discussed at the three-day
travel arm of the business. She said: “If you pair meetings and events with travel, it gives you more leverage when it comes to negotiating with your suppliers – especially because there’s a lot of crossover on the hotel side.” The panellists warned that building
an efficient meetings strategy takes time and dedication, with one saying it’s worth the effort for the benefit of transparency. Bondurant concluded the session with
three calls to action – identify the benefits of combining meetings and events with travel; prioritise three synergies within those departments; and make connections with contacts who can help you build a comprehensive programme.
DISTRIBUTION VISION One thought-provoking breakout session was a ‘game’ centred on the future of airline distribution, in which teams representing various industry interests, including buyers, TMCs and GDSs, posed questions to each other in order to shine some light on the incoming NDC. Gehan Colliander, head of global travel
at the Boston Consulting Group, and Mark Cuschieri from UBS, agreed that buyers are willing to pay slightly higher prices for better content through NDC, but warned that suppliers need to ensure the content they display on the system is really relevant to corporates.
The aggregator team, made up of
Bernd Schulz, CEO of i:FAO AG, and Dave Bishop, vice-president of global business development at Atriis Technologies, responded that they already work closely with their TMC partners to ensure the content they see on their system is as relevant and complete as possible. When asked why the airlines are slower
than the rest of the industry to adapt to changes in distribution technology, Hank Benedetti, vice-president of strategic accounts at American Airlines, and Johannes Walter, senior director of distribution and global market management at Lufthansa Group, agreed carriers have to build on the basics first. They said more collaboration between the different groups in the travel industry is needed to speed up the process. Finally, Ian Heywood, global head of product and marketing for air commerce at Travelport, and Simon Nowroz, chief marketing officer at CWT, pointed out that it’s not up to the airlines to decide what content corporates get to see. Looking ahead, airlines will have to learn how to differentiate their content, they said, and it’s up to the buyer and their TMC to apply filters to get the most relevant content for their needs.
n This year’s GBTA conference will take place in Berlin on 27-29 November
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PHOTO: MESSE FRANKFURT GMBH/BACH
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