NBTA Asia Pacific, part of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), hosted more than 220 participants at its twelfth annual Regional Conference, held in Brisbane last week. The program was designed to give corporate and…
NBTA Asia Pacific, part of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), hosted more than 220 participants at its twelfth annual Regional Conference, held in Brisbane last week. The program was designed to give corporate and government travel managers insights into the most important developments in business travel, and to provide networking opportunities for travel managers and suppliers. More than 40 percent of attendees were travel buyers.
This is the first Regional Conference since the former Australasian Business Travel Association (ABTA) became NBTA Asia Pacific and linked itself to NBTA’s global network. It was also the first time the event had been held in Brisbane.
Monica Gardner, member of the NBTA Asia Pacific Board of Directors and Conference Team Coordinator, said, “It was thrilling to see such a large turnout for the 2007 NBTA Asia Pacific Regional Conference. Perhaps more exciting was to talk with attendees about how beneficial they found the discussions on topics such as travel procurement strategies, the environmental impacts of travel, policy compliance, online booking tools, airline agreements, trends in travel management and technology, serviced apartments, and travel cards. I went home with new knowledge that will help me improve my day-to-day performance, and many other attendees told me they did, as well.”
The two-and-a-half day program featured breakout workshops and plenary sessions covering key business travel subjects, as well as evening events. A Supplier Sourcing Exchange and a Technology Sourcing Exchange allowed attendees to meet with 27 exhibitors and learn about the latest products and services available for travel management programs.
Michael W. Lyons, CCTE, vice president of NBTA’s Board of Directors, took part in the conference. He commented, “I was pleased to have a chance to attend the NBTA Asia Pacific Regional Conference. It was a great learning opportunity for me to connect with counterparts in Asia Pacific and to ways in which our challenges as multinational travel managers overlap and ways in which they are different. If your company has travel personnel in the region, I recommend encouraging them to attend next year.”
Next year’s NBTA Asia Pacific Regional Conference will be held in Sydney, August 25-26, 2008.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
