decision-maker

What are the main challenges facing the GBTA in 2012? Paul Tilstone - It's been about a year since the GBTA changed its name from NBTA, dedicated to the United States, to GBTA, incorporating the notion of 'global'. It's not just a change of name, it's a real...

A change of cast in the world of international business travel: after Anne Godfrey, who announced her departure from the GTMC in May, it is Ron DiLeo's turn to leave another association dedicated to business travel, ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives). After two years at the head of the association...

The GBTA and VDR had the opportunity to try out their agreement for a year, as part of a test phase, which is now leading to a more concrete integration of the German association within the GBTA network, planned for the long term. Paul Tilstone, head of GBTA Europe, made a point of...

With the successive launches of its Hotel Finder and Flight Search tools, Google had already sent out clear signals to the world of travel in general, and business travel in particular. The search engine's positioning has now been clarified with the announcement of its participation in a key event in the sector: Scott Field, head of...

Best Western UK becomes the sixth hotel partner of the GTMC, the UK's business travel association. Anne Godfrey, Director of the GTMC, is delighted with this new membership: "The continued interest shown by hotel chains clearly illustrates the value of GTMC membership and the potential benefits offered by this partnership". Best Western...

The next European meeting of the international business travel association will therefore be held at the end of September in the Hungarian capital, according to information released on 8 March by GBTA. The event is expected to bring together more than 500 industry professionals at the Budapest Congress and World Trade Center. The...

How would you sum up 2011, a year marked by an unprecedented strike? Patrick Malval - Last year was a year of transformation. It's true that there was a strike, but that's always the case in a company where there's a change of management. There was also a need to exchange views with...

GBTA France will hold its first meeting in mid-February, under the leadership of Yann Le Goff, who has been appointed chairman for a two-year term. He will be accompanied by Jean-Pierre Drioux, appointed General Secretary, and Paul Tilstone, Treasurer. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), which has just formalised this new entity, is already looking beyond the French market...

Egencia today announced the appointment of Christophe Peymirat as Senior Vice President Egencia EMEA & APAC, replacing Christophe Pingard. Christophe Peymirat will now manage all activities of the Expedia Group's business travel subsidiary in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Aged 40, he joined Egencia at its inception, and has been in charge...

A major figure in American Express is preparing to leave the group: on 31 December 2011, Charles Petruccelli will step down as World President of American Express Business Travel. He joined the Group in 1976, holding a number of positions of responsibility within the international management team, until he took up his post in 2001 as President of American Express Business Travel.

The ACTE association is rethinking its organisation in the Asia-Pacific region, with the creation of "ACTE Southern Asia" made official on Wednesday 19 October. The heads of the association of travel managers are aiming to give greater autonomy to the two structures - ACTE Asia and ACTE Southern Asia - which until now have been brought together under the umbrella of ACTE Asia-Pacific. The...

How do you view the current economic climate and its impact on business travel? Patrick Diemer - If you look closely at the figures, there is no economic crisis at the moment. Business travel is currently flourishing. If you read the newspapers, you can see that everyone is worried,...

For 3 days, the eyes of the business travel world were on Paris. And with good reason: ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) was holding its trade fair at the Marriott Rive Gauche, bringing together nearly a thousand participants representing the various components of the business travel industry. It was a record turnout for the event, which...

Franck Gervais - I'm lucky to be joining a company with a good product and excellent teams. My ambition is for Thalys to remain the leader and be a model for high-speed rail transport in Europe. Thalys must remain at the...

What proportion of Lyria's traffic are business travellers? Alain Barbey - It all depends on the route. They represent almost 40 % of our passengers on the Paris-Geneva route, 35 % to Basel and 30 % to Lausanne or Bern. As far as international customers are concerned, Paris-Geneva remains the main route for...

What are the Group's brands and their positioning? Kurt Ritter - Unlike many of our competitors, we only have a small portfolio of brands, each with a clear positioning. This is important to us: you can't sell a brand that you can't explain! Our top-of-the-range brand is Radisson Blu. The brand combines Scandinavian heritage and design...

Is the AFTM seeing a recovery in business travel? Thanks to a survey carried out among 272 of our members, the AFTM considers that the bottom of the tunnel was reached in March-April, before a gradual recovery in business travel. The results show that 22 % of travel managers have begun to relax the rules they have put in place...

What will the European rail market look like in the future? Olivier Poitrenaud - For the future, the big news is the opening up to competition. From now on, the entire scope of international high-speed rail services will be open to competition. Slowly but surely, new players will enter the landscape. We don't yet know...