ACTE Educational Forum: here professionals meet

6th ACTE / ABT Moscow Executive Forum took place on March 13th, 2014 in Novotel Moscow City; it was traditionally held with the support of the Russian Association of Business Travel.

In his greeting speech Greely Koch, executive director of ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives), announced joining efforts of the associations in Russia under one brand name, ACTE Russia, as well as the process of adaptation of ABT educational program «Travel manager» for its start on other markets and preparation to the launch of the Business and Conference Hotel Attestation Program on the global level in partnership with ACTE.

Mr Koch thanked everyone, who took part in the event and noted that their mutual work was successful: «We are impressed by the steps taken by ABT, ACTE long-term partner. Now we are speaking about a new level of cooperation and partnership, which will allow us to be leaders on the world business travel scene and give us new benefits».

АBТ-ACTE chairman Vadim Zelensky stressed the importance of this decision: «We have always shared ACTE ideas in the field of educational programs, its vision of the profession of a travel manager. We are proud that the largest international association of the industry has made use of our educational products, and ABT Business and Conference Hotel Attestation Program will definitely get a new birth and will be launched on the global level. I am sure we will do a lot of things together».

The educational forum consisted of three sessions with speakers’ presentations and a panel discussion. After the greeting words of Greely Koch and Vadim Zelensky, ABT independent consultant Winfried Barczaitis presented his report on business travel development trends in Russia. The report was based on The Business Travel Year Book — the first large scale research of the Russian business travel industry that was carried out by ABT experts.

To sum up the results of 2013, Russian business travel market amounted to 471 billion roubles, which exceeded 2012 figures by 31 billion. Experts forecast market growth by 7,8% in 2014. This growth rate is higher than that of most mature economies, but it is much lower than in BRICS partner countries (thus, Indian growth rate may amount to 21% this year).

Marina Krechetnikova, administrative director of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) presented her view on the problems of corporate online booking. World and European booking systems still need to be adapted to the Russian market: «Amadeus is a great thing, but even this system is still too «European», Ms Krechetnikova stressed.

Olga Khorasanova (Accenture) spoke about various aspects of online strategies in corporate business travel. The first session was ended by a panel discussion devoted to booking systems. Discussion participants were Olga Belyusenko (FCm Travel Solutions), Denis Matyukhin (Aeroclub), Philip Lukianenko (HRG Russia), Anna Tarasenko (Zelenski Corporate Travel Solutions), Valeria Zakharova (Travelport). Vadim Zelensky was moderator of the discussion.

The second session started from the report of Tatiana Ovchinnikova (Bayer) on the Strategic Meetings Management Program (SMMP), which consisted of several steps that determined successful fulfillment of the whole program. The topic of the report was also the main theme of the panel discussion that followed it. Ms Ovchinnikova was also its moderator. She noted that Bayer held 300-400 events on the global level every year, and Russian companies should try to achieve the same figures. Tim Bull (ACTIVE Network Business Solutions), Jean Squires (EMEA, Lanyon Inc.) and Dmitry Marin (UNIFEST) discussed the use of technologies in SMMP, as well as the problem of choosing the right online solution for MICE management.

During the third session of ACTE-2014 educational forum participants divided into two groups. Moderators of the discussion, Olga Khorasanova (GEM Travel Lead, Accenture) and Winfried Barczaitis asked each the members of each group to present their vision of the main aspects of support for foreigners who come to Russia and the CIS to work for a long period of time.

In her final speech Caroline Allen, АСТЕ director, stressed once again the importance of the decision to create the ABT-ACTE Russia brand and thanked guests for their active participation in the event.

The mission of ACTE, which was founded in 1988 to provide global education in the field of business travel, is the establishment of a meaningful dialogue between industry representatives. The association provides professional and independent consultations and recommendations, holds congresses, forums and seminars, as well as carries out market research on the regional and global level.

ABT has been present in the Russian market since 2004. It regularly holds diverse educational sessions with the participation of the leading industry experts in order to discuss key issues of travel management; it implements unique educational programs «Travel manager» and «Business Travel Agent», that offer their participants specialized knowledge and an opportunity to acquire a new profession, it carries out joint projects with international organizations.

ABT members are travel managers and procurement specialists from more than 100 largest international and Russian corporations. ABT partners are over 50 leading business travel suppliers: international and Russian airlines, hotel chains, business travel agencies etc.

Oleg Abarnikov