BT4Europe, the European Network of Business Travel Associations, will launch a Position Paper on Boosting the Economic Impact of Business Travel. Business travel in Europe makes a hugely positive contribution to the European economy and although the COVID pandemic was a significant set back, the sector is recovering fast. BT4Europe believes the sector’s economic impact can be further boosted by streamlining the regulatory framework.

The Position Paper, developed by BT4Europe’s Economic Impact Working Group, urges EU regulators to streamline the regulatory framework to encourage sustainable and resilient growth of the sector and accommodate and facilitate future trends.

‘BT4Europe is confident that the challenges facing business travel can be addressed in order to enable the sustainable and resilient development of the sector, which in turn contributes to the economic development of Europe. In our Position Paper we make recommendations for action to streamline the regulatory framework, and we invite the entire travel sector to support these recommendations and the EU to take action to implement them.’ says Patrick W. Diemer, Chair of BT4Europe.’

‘Preparing for future health emergencies by learning the lessons from COVID, accommodating the major shifts in working patterns to facilitate more flexible, hybrid and cross-border working, ensuring one stop ticketing for all modes of transport and introducing digital end-to-end multi-modal passenger rights, will boost the economic impact of business travel.’ says Odete Pimenta da Silva, Chair of BT4Europe’s Economic Impact Working Group.

Odete Pimenta da Silva concluded, ‘Business travel in Europe makes a hugely positive contribution to the European economy, and we urge the EU to implement our recommendations to ensure the sector contributes its full potential to the European economy.’

Position Paper is available for download under "Kenniscentrum"

To view the recorded launch/webinar: click HERE

BTN Europe speaks to Odete Pimenta da Silva, managing director of the Netherlands Association for Travel Management (NATM)

More rail capacity and a smoother airport experience are on Odete Pimenta da Silva’s wishlist for business travellers in 2023, while topping the agenda at NATM is a new long-term strategy for the business travel association.

And while business travel in the Netherlands continues to recover – in spite of the challenges Pimenta da Silva goes on to dissect – she prefers not to predict travel volumes for the year ahead.

“What business travel will look like in 2023 depends on who you talk to,” says Pimenta da Silva. “It’s too hard to say right now. There is some pent-up demand and people are catching up. You can’t really compare to the last three years. Businesses are obsessed with 2019 but we need to move on. If you’re an entrepreneur, a start-up or a fast-growing business, you don’t know what to expect each year or you’re starting from zero anyway.”

She notes that talk of a recession “is not the first thing you see when you open a newspaper” in the Netherlands but that rising costs remain a concern for companies, travel buyers and the general public alike. “Costs have been going up but the likes of increasing energy rates are out of our hands and I think companies accept that,” she says.

Challenges impacting travel management across many European nations last year were witnessed in the Netherlands too – principally rising rates, poor service levels and capacity shortages.

Read the whole interview here

In its 51^st’ year of existence the Netherlands Association for Travel Management (NATM) will focus more in depth on its strategy and educational projects.

Business travel is in full swing and NATM is heading for a renewed strategy. Our goal? To expand our community by (RE)connecting with all Travel professionals responsible for and involved in business travel based in the Netherlands. Our main goal is to bring as many professionals together as possible and educate them on the knowledge of Travel Management. Representing GBTA Europe in the Netherlands makes it possible for NATM members to connect cross-border with their peers in any country around the world.

In order to support us in achieving these objectives NATM is excited to announce the appointment of Herman Mensink as its strategic counsel. Herman Mensink is one of those professionals in our industry who needs no further introduction, a seasoned travel management industry expert by heart. Next to Director of Corporate Travel at Philips Electronics, Director of EMEA for ACTE the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and Associate Professor at BUas (Breda University of applied sciences) in which capacity he was a/o heading the well-known NATM-Academy, Herman was the co-founder and long-time chair of Corporate Travel Association CORTAS. Herman Mensink can be considered a true icon in the business travel industry, both on national and global level.

“Leading an association like the NATM occasionally requires to be able to reflect with a knowledgeable sparring partner, therefore I’m happy to be working again with Herman in his role as Strategic Counsel – his experience and knowledge will prove powerful alongside our ambitious plans for the future;” states Odete Pimenta da Silva, managing director NATM.

Herman Mensink “I am excited to collaborate closely with the NATM leadership and its members, providing my expertise in both strategic and educational matters, building on a solid basis to further knowledge and expertise for all industry professionals.”

“We’re excited to support our managing director proactively navigating her plans for the association through this new collaboration with Herman Mensink,” said Inge Kuijpers, NATM chair. “Bringing travel management forward is at the heart of both, always guided by the best route for our member base, buyers, and suppliers. I am honoured to witness, and be part of, the development of the NATM strategy for the years to come.”

Tijdens de jaarlijkse NATM Sustainable Business Travel Forum, die 22 november 2022 werd gehouden in IntercityHotel Amsterdam Airport in Hoofddorp, is de NATM Sustainable Business Travel Award 2022 gewonnen door Ramona Bouw, Services Manager Travel bij KPMG.

“ De organisatie heeft een duidelijk punt aan de horizon gezet en werkt eraan om op veel gebieden impact te maken. Zij hebben de kennis en ervaringen uit de pandemie-periode omgezet in een aangepast reisbeleid. Inzicht en rapportage zijn daarbij een essentieel onderdeel. Korte lijnen binnen de organisatie zorgen ervoor dat er snel actie kan worden ondernomen. En het allerbelangrijkste is dat de reiziger betrokken wordt bij het voortschrijdend inzicht op het beleid, dat zij het reisbeleid evalueren en dat ook de reisagent hierop wordt aangesloten. Het is opvallend en een goed teken dat deze aanpak gedragen wordt door het management. Dat is heel belangrijk voor de eigenaar van het reisbeleid en om een dergelijk reisbeleid te kunnen doorvoeren. Wij zijn blij met deze erkenning door haar vakgenoten en wensen Ramona veel succes bij het verder verfijnen van dit onderdeel van het reisbeleid,” aldus Odete Pimenta da Silva, voorzitter van de jury en managing director NATM.

De leden van de NATM konden tijdens het Sustainable Business Travel Forum op twee kandidaten hun stem uitbrengen. De nummer twee van de shortlist is Lisette Koning, Procurement Consultant bij ABNAMRO. Beide kandidaten hebben afgelopen jaar veel bereikt op het gebied van duurzaam zakelijk reizen. Ramona en Lisette waren initieel genomineerden van een grotere lijst deelnemers. De verkiezing bleef spannend tot het allerlaatste moment.

Op basis van voortschrijdend inzicht en ervaring hebben we een wijziging doorgevoerd in het beoordelingsproces. Vorig jaar zijn we begonnen met het interviewen van de kandidaten in plaats van gebruik te maken van de input van de derde partijen die de genomineerden instuurden. De interviews geven een veel gedetailleerder inzicht in alles waar een genomineerde aan werkt om het bewustzijn rond duurzaam zakenreizen te vergroten. Op basis van het interview stellen we een volledig anonieme samenvatting op hetgeen we op de dag van Sustainable Business Travel Forum delen met de NATM-leden. Op basis van die input geven ze hun stem aan kandidaat 1, 2 of 3, het publiek weet dan nog steeds niet wie de daadwerkelijke kandidaten zijn. Dus kiezen ze op basis van het proces, de vaardigheden, hoe people, planet en profit worden toegepast. Het jury-oordeel telt voor 50 procent mee, de overige 50 procent ligt bij de tijdens de vergadering aanwezige NATM-leden. Dit maakt het spannend tot het daadwerkelijke moment dat de winnaar bekend wordt gemaakt.

“Zeer vereerd om genomineerd te zijn voor de Sustainable Business Travel Award en dan met een halve punt verschil te mogen winnen, geeft ook aan dat beide genomineerden aan elkaar gewaagd waren. Niet verwacht, maar zeker trots op het resultaat. Dit zou ik niet bereikt kunnen hebben zonder de goede samenwerking van het Travel team, Procurement, de afdeling CR en de korte lijnen met de board van KPMG. Together for better. Sustainability staat hoog op onze agenda, we blijven ons hierin verder ontwikkelen.” reageerde Ramona Bouw bij het in ontvangst nemen van de Award.

De jaarlijkse Sustainable Business Travel Award worden uitgereikt aan de Travel Manager die op het terrein van Duurzaam Zakelijk Reizen de meest onderscheidende bijdrage heeft geleverd. Het doel van deze award is om Duurzaam Zakelijk Reizen onder de aandacht brengen van en te stimuleren bij Travel Managers in Nederland.

Elke winnaar krijgt een jaar lang een wisseltrofee, na een jaar wordt de officiële wisseltrofee vervangen door een replica. Naast de trofee krijgt de winnaar een persoonlijke prijs, dit jaar vonden we Thalys zo genereus om twee retourtickets naar Antwerpen te sponsoren en sponsort Hilton Hotels een weekend voor twee in Antwerpen.

De Sustainable Business Travel Award is een partnership tussen NATM en Climate Neutral Group, waarbij betrokken partijen hun beschikbare kennis en kanalen op het gebied van respectievelijk Travel management en duurzaamheid zoveel mogelijk zullen inzetten.

Ryanair and travel technology company Amadeus today (11 Nov) announces their new distribution partnership, that will further expand access to Ryanair’s offering to Amadeus’ industry-leading customer base. Operating 3,000 daily flights to 225 destinations across 36 countries, Ryanair is leading aviation’s post COVID-19 traffic recovery carrying 115% of its pre-pandemic traffic – making it one of the most reliable choices for travel.

With businesses throughout Europe facing growing economic and inflationary pressures, Ryanair is delivering market-leading connections, frequencies, punctuality and fares in Europe, which can now be booked through the Amadeus Travel Platform from the end of 2022. The partnership supports Ryanair’s vision to grow its visibility and reach to Amadeus customers, particularly for business travel. The seamless integration with Amadeus’ booking flows and processes will grant customers high operational efficiency in searching, booking and servicing content from Ryanair, as well as being able to offer a broader choice of travel options to cost-conscious travelers.

Not only can Ryanair’s expanded travel offering generate substantial savings for customers, it will also help them manage their carbon footprint and enhance their ESG credentials, with the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger / km of any major European airline, an achievement underpinned by its Pathway to Net Zero by 2050 decarbonization strategy. This is a mission clearly shared by Amadeus, and the new partnership will contribute to expose these environmentally efficient offerings to a wider audience.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said, “We are pleased to announce this partnership with Amadeus, the world’s leading travel technology company, further expanding Ryanair’s offering and enabling corporate customers in particular greater access to our unrivalled network of connections, high frequencies, on-time performance, and unbeatable low fares as they return to collaborating with colleagues face-to-face. We look forward to working with Amadeus and its efficient distribution solution and industry-leading network over the coming years.”

Jose-Luis Aragon, Regional VP Air Distribution Europe, Amadeus said, “We are very happy that Ryanair has chosen to capitalize on Amadeus’ technology to support its distribution strategy. This partnership illustrates the value of our platform for low-cost carriers, offering the airline access to the widest network of travel sellers worldwide and the technology to help them get the most out of the indirect channel.  This partnership is another example of our commitment to delivering the broadest and most relevant travel content from any technology source to our travel sellers, with smooth and seamless integration into their everyday tools and processes.”

Chair of BT4Europe, the European Network of Business Travel Associations, Patrick Diemer, is in Brussels this week for a series of meetings with EU officials. BT4Europe want to step up their call for swift action to green business travel and in particular press home the demands made in their recent Sustainability Position Paper and their submission to the European Commission’s ‘CountEmissionsEU’ consultation.

The business travel industry in the EU, worth € 54 billion a year, facilitates the business travel of millions of Europeans every year, sustains thousands of jobs across Europe and is vital to our economies and our societies. The industry is determined to reduce its ecologicalfootprint in line with the European Green Deal and become sustainable.

BT4Europe, on behalf of their 13 members who represent leading travel industry stakeholder across Europe, argue major regulatory reforms are required at an EU level to help the industry deliver decarbonisation.

First, in the context of the ‘CountEmissionsEU’ consultation, Patrick Diemer will meet European Commission officials to highlight the fact that buyers of business travel in Europe need to be fully informed about the amount of CO2 emissions caused by all means of business travel, which is currently not the case.

Patrick will call for ‘urgent and significant steps to be taken to improve access to standardized, accurate and comparable data on the CO2 impact of business travel. A consistent measure of carbon emissions from business travel is urgently needed, which at the moment is simply not available.’

He continued: ‘To green business travel we must all work together to ensure the CO2 footprint of business travel options become as important as price, customers have a right to CO2 information and ‘CountEmissionsEU’ is an opportunity to set a unified standard for CO2 emission calculations. We must start immediately to green business travel. Hence, we should start with CO2 information as soon as possible.’

Second, he will also meet other EU officials to discuss the forthcoming EU Multimodal Digital Mobility Strategy.

Patrick said: ‘The EU’s Multimodal digital mobility services initiative represents a major opportunity to integrate ticketing options, including rail, and improve the visibility of CO2 footprint at the point of sale, allowing users to make an informed choice on the most sustainable travel option. In particular, for cross-border travel this information is not readily available today.

He concluded: ‘We look forward to working with the EU to ensure this important initiative helps to better integrate public transport and rail services to achieve seamless multimodal passenger transport, crucial to delivering the EU’s Green Deal.’
Patrick will also be meeting senior industry and Member State officials and is available for interview.

Link naar de uitzending: https://lnkd.in/eYaJ_7Kr

Bron: NOS - Nieuwsuur

Doel is om meetings & workspace-branche naar nog weer hoger plan te brengen

Meetingselect, de toonaangevende marktplaats voor meetings & events, groepsboekingen en werkplekken, heeft hospitality-techbedrijf Cyberdigma overgenomen.

Met deze overname wil Meetingselect de MICE-branche (meetings, incentives, conferenties en tentoonstellingen) naar een nog weer hoger plan brengen. Meetingselect en Cyberdigma hebben beide ruime ervaring in het leveren van oplossingen en technologieën aan de meeting- & hospitality-branche. Door de jaren heen is hun focus altijd geweest op het innoveren van de sector door middel van technologie, waardoor bedrijven een optimale klantervaring kunnen bieden.

Cyberdigma, opgericht in 2001 door de vrouwelijke oprichter Marielle Sijgers en horeca-tech-ondernemer Ronald van den Hoff, is een pionier geweest in het innoveren van de meeting- en workspace-branche. In 2007 ontwikkelde Cyberdigma het softwareplatform voor Seats2meet.com, een disruptief meeting- en coworking-concept.

Meer recent ontwikkelde Meetingselect de innovatieve en disruptieve nieuwe technologie Instant Bookings. Klanten kunnen direct online vergaderruimtes en werkplekken boeken. Locaties kunnen deze technologie gebruiken als een gemakkelijk inzetbare widget op hun eigen website, met hun eigen branding en tegelijkertijd hun klanten bedienen volgens hun eigen manier van werken. Locaties die gebruik maken van Instant Bookings besparen op personeelskosten en werken zeer efficiënt. Het optimaliseren van rendement is een integraal onderdeel van Instant Bookings. Cyberdigma ondersteunde Meetingselect bij het onderzoek en de ontwikkeling van Instant Bookings.

“We hebben een heldere visie op de toekomst van de MICE-branche”, zegt Anouk Roohé, medeoprichter van Meetingselect. “Onze sector heeft slimme, directe boekingsoplossingen nodig die hospitalitybedrijven ondersteunen bij het bieden van een naadloze boekingservaring aan klanten. Door Cyberdigma over te nemen, versterken we onze wereldwijde marktpositie met instant coworking en workspace-boekingen. We voegen ook een ervaren team van ontwikkelaars toe aan onze organisatie.”

Marielle Sijgers, medeoprichter van Cyberdigma, zegt: “Als aandeelhouders van Cyberdigma hebben we het volste vertrouwen in het team van Meetingselect om de meetings- & workspace-branche verder te innoveren. Er is een concrete vraag naar nieuwe manieren van werken en slimme oplossingen. Door ons hooggekwalificeerde technische team de krachten te laten bundelen met het team van Meetingselect kunnen ze sneller coworking- en workspace-boekingsoplossingen leveren aan boekers en locaties.”

With the Cytric mobile app, users can now hail rides, through Karhoo - a venture of Mobilize - from hundreds of fleets of taxis and private transfer companies in 1,000+ cities around the world

Who hasn't dreamed, when arriving in a foreign country, of easily finding a taxi and knowing the fare in advance? Thanks to a new partnership with Karhoo, business travelers using the Cytric Travel & Expense mobile app will have all the answers at their fingertips.

This new Karhoo integration means Cytric users can hail pre-booked or on-demand rides in more than 1,000 cities around the world. With hundreds of fleets of taxis and private transfer companies to choose from, users will be spoiled for choice, with new cities and destinations constantly being added to meet demand. The best part is travelers won´t even have to download another app: all of these mobility options will be just a few clicks away on the Cytric Travel & Expense app.

In addition, business travelers will be able to compare prices as well as category of vehicles (electric, hybrid…) and estimated wait time to book whichever ride best suits their needs. This will help corporate clients reduce costs as well as service their travelers better during their trip. A future enhancement will also link the receipts generated automatically for the clients who use the Cytric expense solution.

“We’re always looking for ways to make Cytric Travel & Expense more user friendly for our travelers. We want them to have everything they need at their fingertips. This partnership with Karhoo really takes us to the next level when it comes to providing a true end-to-end experience for business travelers,”

says Vasken Tokatlian, Vice President Partnerships and Alliances, Amadeus Cytric solutions.

“Few companies have the global reach and network of travelers and travel companies that Amadeus has. We are therefore very pleased to be working with Cytric Travel & Expense and proud to help Cytric users find more mobility options, wherever they travel,”

says Fedra Ribeiro, CEO of Karhoo.

This is the latest development recently announced by Amadeus in the corporate travel space which shows the company’s commitment to creating a connected travel and expense experience. In March, Amadeus announced in a new Cytric integration with Microsoft 365 that allows business travelers to plan trips and share travel details with colleagues without ever leaving their day-to-day applications such as Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Teams.

GBTA’s BTI Global Outlook 2022-2026 published

GBTA’s Global BTI Outlook for the period 2022-2026 has been released and is available on the NATM member pages: click here.