Under New Banner, In New City, Annual Conference Draws Largest Attendance to Date
Caleb Tiller, +1 703-684-0836 ext. 138
Nicole Hayes, +1 703-684-0836 ext. 133
Brisbane (September 26, 2007) -- NBTA Asia Pacific -- the leading organisation for corporate travel professionals in the Asia Pacific region, and part of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), the world’s premier business travel organisation -- 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.
The conference was made possible in part by the support of the following sponsors:
Diamond Sponsors
American Express Business Travel
American Express Card
Qantas Airways
Gold Sponsors
Accor Asia Pacific
Virgin Blue
Silver Sponsors
Quest Apartments
Conference Sponsors
American Airlines
Avis
Concur
Genesys
Toga Hospitality
Virgin Atlantic
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 at the Sofitel Wentworth, August 25-26, 2008.
NBTA Asia Pacific, the leading organisation for corporate travel professionals in the Asia Pacific region, is part of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), the world’s premier business travel organisation. U.S.-based NBTA and its regional subsidiaries – NBTA Asia Pacific, NBTA Canada and NBTA Mexico – serve more than 3,000 members in 30 nations around the globe. NBTA has 42 U.S. Chapters with more than 5,000 members. NBTA members are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, who collectively manage and direct more than $170 billion of global business travel expenditures annually. The association provides industry-leading networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy. For more information, visit www.nbta.org and www.nbta.org.au.
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