TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

Philippe Quillien, Director of Business Travel at Selectour Afat, gives a promising overview of the network's various projects for the coming months. With the development of its online offering, a new mobile application, a 24/24 cell and the integration of the AeTM tool from Amadeus, 2014 promises to be a year full of new developments for the network, which intends to gain even more ground in the business travel market, including with key accounts. 

From the "all-car" to the notion of mobility, from the "bagnole" to car-sharing in electric vehicles, our relationship with the automobile is changing. Welcome to the world of the intelligent car.

CWT is simultaneously publishing a fun infographic and a video with the stated aim of finding the "winning strategy" for 2014 and identifying new optimisation levers. Roaming, mobile strategy, gamification: the business travel agency is targeting the new trends to be taken into account in the world of travel management.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has appointed the first president of its African branch: Kovilan Naidoo, Travel Manager at Cummins Inc, is taking over as head of the international business travel association in a rapidly changing market.

The great supersonic thrill or the praise of slowness: the future balances between an airship taking the time to travel the world and a rocket plane crossing it in less than two hours.

Finnair, EasyJet and Gulf Air took the top three places in FlightStats' November rankings for the punctuality of the main airlines. Overall, the punctuality of international carriers has risen slightly compared with October.

While the majority of business travel players are looking to 2014, AirPlus is looking (much) further ahead and is already projecting itself into... 2060. Socio-economic and environmental contexts, transport infrastructures, new technologies, new practices, and changes in the 'travel manager' profession: the Business Travel 2060 white paper, written by Mark Harris on behalf of the specialist in means of payment, compiles on around thirty pages the various changes that the business travel sector is likely to face over the next fifty years.

Gift boxes and gourmet dinners, wine discoveries and cookery classes, a host of epicurean challenges: gourmet rewards are still a sure thing!

As the boundaries between work and personal life become increasingly blurred, hotels will continue their lifestyle transformation. With recipes that are already proving successful: cutting-edge design, the latest technology and striking architecture.

Rainer von Wrede is Head of Engineering and Environmental R&T at Airbus.

Miguel Prosper is President of the French Federation of Insect Producers, Importers and Breeders.

Reporting will be the most crucial aspect of a travel programme according to European and American travel managers. Cost control is also the focus of attention for business travel players around the world. These are just some of the conclusions to be drawn from the study "The Evolution of Business Travel Management" published on Tuesday 26 November by Egencia and the GBTA Foundation.

According to American Express Business Travel's Meetings & Events department, 2014 will see a stagnation in the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Convention, Events) segment.

Over the last ten years or so, private concierge services have proliferated on the French market, attracting the traditional players in business travel. Their credo: a tailor-made business trip, without constraints or nasty surprises, and enhanced by top-of-the-range services.

In a few weeks' time, 3mundi and Frequent Flyer Travel Paris will be launching a holding company to pool their resources and skills and strengthen their position in the French business travel market. Jordy Staelen, Managing Director of 3mundi, talks about the objectives of this project.

The cost of business travel in Europe is set to rise slightly in 2014 according to American Express, which has just published its traditional "Forecast", market by market.