ITB Business Travel Days: Business Travel at a Time of Financial Crisis

According to the latest findings of the Association of German Travel Management (VDR e.V.) in its 2008 Business Travel Analysis, half of all the expenditure in German hotels is accounted for by business travellers.

Current issues concerning business travel will form the focus of attention at the ITB Business Travel Forum from 11 to 13 March 2009, which is expected to attract everyone from juniors to business travel managers to participate in the exchange of information at this advanced training event in Berlin.

David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin, said, “This year the Business Travel Days are undergoing a further qualitative improvement, because we are convinced of the importance of this sector. The business travel market remains a reliable indicator of the economic situation and also exercises a stabilising effect: It is not seasonal in nature, and remains largely immune to crises due to the fact that, in an age of globalisation, it is vital for staff to be able to travel.”

Newcomers’ Day

The Business Travel Forum will begin on Wednesday, 11 March 2009, with a Newcomers’ Day and two highly topical subjects. In his opening speech Prof. Dr. Friedrich Hubert Esser, Divisional Director for Vocational Training with the Main Association of the German Skilled Trades, Berlin, will talk on the subject of “Training in Times of (Financial) Crisis”.

Another prominent speaker, Ekkehard Goetting, Chairman & CEO of the German Economic Delegation in Hong Kong, will address a contentious issue under the heading of “Farewell Germany? Learning, living and working abroad”.

The amendments that have been made to careers in travel, and the creation of a new professional qualification for mobility management, are of major importance to anyone entering the industry. The Council of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) Berlin will be providing exclusive details about the current stage of discussions at the ITB Berlin.

Visas and MICE

In the keynote speech of the Business Travel Executive Day / MICE on the Thursday at the ITB, Lutz I. Stammnitz, President Procurement, Mobility and Logistics, Siemens AG, Munich, and Business Travel Manager of the Year 2008 (TIC), will provoke a debate as to whether business travel management constitutes a “black box”.

For the first time MICE topics will form a separate component in the programme of the Business Travel Forum. Under the heading of “Legal, illegal, or irrelevant? The problem of visas for business travel”, a panel of experts will discuss some frequently neglected issues associated with visas.

Decision-makers can learn about “Event Guidelines” as well as taking part in the panel discussion “How good is Germany’s position as a MICE destination”.

On the Thursday and Friday the VDR Academy is holding three practically based workshops in which staff involved with the operational aspects of business travel can learn important details about contracts with airlines, fiscal aspects of business travel and events, and the fundamentals of planning business trips.

New: “Aktuelle Stunde” – main topic: Ancillary Air Travel Costs

The “Business Travel Practitioners’ Day” on Friday, 13 March, will feature a number of highly informative subjects. The “Aktuelle Stunde” (Topical Hour) is a new feature, in which prominent speakers will report on a number of items, among them “Including aviation in EU emissions trading”.

During the subsequent discussions travel managers will investigate the “main factors in pushing up air ticket prices”, which include the surcharges for security and aviation fuel, for using credit cards and for baggage, and many other contributory aspects.

And Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V. will be using its “Guidelines for environmentally acceptable business travel” in order to show how business travel can be organised in ways that are both profitable and ecologically sound. This will be just one of many contributions to the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in tourism. The CSR Day will be held for the first time at this year’s ITB.

The ITB Business Travel Forum will take place from 11 to 13 March 2009 in Hall 7.1a, New York 3, during the ITB Berlin Convention.

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