Alexandria, VA (6 November 2009) – The leaders in the global business travel industry came together in Prague, 25 -27 October for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ (ACTE) 2009 Global Education Conference. Titled, “Finding the Tailwinds to Lift a Global Industry,” the conference featured a corporate buyer percentage of 37%, with 97% of buyers holding the title of Manager or above. In addition participants represented over 40 countries worldwide.
“ACTE’s primary mission is to provide a platform for global and regional leaders to advance the industry through an exchange of knowledge,” said Richard Crum, ACTE President, “And, that is exactly what we saw in Prague – business travel executives from all over the world coming together to find new ways to improve their travel programs through new ideas and relationships.”
The over 800 registered attendees were able to participate in interactive educational sessions, learn from dynamic keynote presentations, share best practices with their peers during roundtable discussions, and engage in a wide range of networking opportunities aimed at senior-level business travel industry practitioners.
“During the current difficult economic times I personally feel that being part of professional association like ACTE is even more beneficial than ever before.” said Pascal Struyve, Global Travel, Fleet & Meeting Services Director, Ingersoll Rand Enterprise Services, “As we are all confronted with an environment which is new to us sharing best practice and solutions is key in demonstrating the added value the travel department can bring to an organization. Delivering efficient solutions fast has become the key and therefore learning from each other rather than inventing everything ourselves is important.”
“ACTE for me is a rich resource of information. The website is always up to date with the latest industry changes and challenges complete with white papers and benchmarking.” stated Richard Veenstra, Travel Manager, Tommy Hilfiger Europe B.V., “Furthermore you have the opportunity to meet the leading individuals in the travel industry during the ACTE Global Education Conferences.”
The association has 14 educational events scheduled for the remainder of 2009 and will post its 2010 global education calendar shortly. However, during the conference, ACTE did announce the dates and locations for their 2010 Global Education Conferences. The first will be in Chicago, Illinois, United States, 18-20 May. The second will be in Berlin, Germany, 3-5 October. For more information about ACTE’s global educational programmes please visit www.acte.org.
