More talent is needed in the business travel sector to bring fresh ideas and “activism in driving change”.
ACTE chief calls for change in business travel sector
More talent is needed in the business travel sector to bring fresh ideas and “activism in driving change”.
The message came from Association of Corporate Travel Executives executive director Ron DiLeo at an industry think tank hosted by Amadeus.
The annual corporate travel network event at the company’s Nice base was attended by more than 100 key travel management experts.
They were brought together to discuss the evolution of professional travel management and to simplify the complexity of business travel today.
DiLeo said: “The business travel industry needs new ideas and some degree of activism in driving change. The industry lacks new talent coming into the industry as compared to 20 years ago.
“We need to think about how to attract new people and fresh thinking into the business travel space and with it, new material to work with.”
Amadeus multinational business and corporate travel vice president Albert Pozo said: “The social media explosion is here to stay, making the business traveller more savvy than ever.
“The business travel industry can learn from the way leisure travel has successfully used social media to leverage all the new possibilities to create new business.
“At the same time we need to be conscious of how this would work for corporate travel purposes, and the value that it could provide travel managers to better steer their travel policy, while at the same time delivering a better service and experience to the traveller.”
He added: “Although the last few years have been tough for the business travel sector, we must concentrate our efforts on the future, exploring the different routes to growth and profitability.
“These important gatherings help us better understand the challenges from the various stakeholders in the industry, allowing us to align priorities and better focus our resources so that we can continue to be at the leading edge of travel technology and provide the most relevant global content in the market.”
