India is currently the 10th largest business travel market in the world, but with double digit growth rates expected for business travel spend, the region will likely be a top-five business travel market in the next 15 years.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the voice of the global business travel industry, announced the launch of GBTA India as part of its continuing global expansion. GBTA’s initial focus in the region will be on establishing a broad based membership among the Indian business travel community and developing quality educational content and events.
India is currently the 10th largest business travel market in the world, but with double digit growth rates expected for business travel spend, the region will likely be a top-five business travel market in the next 15 years.
“The business travel market in India is one of the healthiest in the world and given its exponential growth rates, there is a clear need for innovative education and training to ensure there are enough qualified business travel professionals to keep up with the rise in demand,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO. “We are pleased to partner with ProKonsul on this endeavour and welcome Gaurav Sundaram as GBTA India Regional Director.”
GBTA has engaged in a collaborative partnership with ProKonsul, a specialized business travel management consultant with expertise in managed business travel and technology in India and Asia. With ProKonsul, GBTA will deliver its core activities of education, research, advocacy and networking in India and Asia Pacific.
“GBTA’s entry into India and its partnership with ProKonsul represent very strong commitments to one of the fastest growing markets in the world. The Indian market has a significant demand for professional education, quality research and industry networking opportunities that GBTA has global leadership in,” said Gaurav Sundaram, President, ProKonsul. “ProKonsul is delighted to partner with GBTA in this endeavour.”
Welcoming these developments, Mr. Subrato Sarkaar, Joint President – Corporate Administration for the US$ 41 Billion multinational Aditya Birla Group, which operates in 36 countries across six continents said, “GBTA will significantly improve the standards of professionalism in the business travel industry in India through its focus on education and research. In ProKonsul, GBTA has a very strong local partner.”
Mr. Ankur Bhatia, Director, Amadeus India, commented, “We are delighted to welcome the Global Business Travel Association and look forward to them establishing a broad based membership among the Indian business travel community. GBTA brings together dynamic individuals in business travel on a common platform and nurtures young professionals by training them on necessary skills in using and adapting to solutions being used by corporations including self-booking tools, duty of care and other technology solutions. We believe that this is a natural progression to India’s projected growth in business travel.”
Through partnerships and visionary leadership from its members, GBTA has changed the landscape of business travel management across the globe and plans to bring this same industry-leading education to India. GBTA will also continue to produce its semi-annual GBTA BTI™ Outlook – India forecasts, which are recognized as the industry benchmark report for the region.
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