ABTM breaks new ground

Compliment of: Travel Weekly
Dated: 10 October 2003

Even as business travel into and out of China rises steadily and multinationals set up their operations there, the concept of corporate travel management is still a relatively new concept. The Asia business Travel Market show in Shanghai last week boldly went into uncharted territory but as with all China investments, one needs to be in for the longhaul to reap the returns. N Gunalan reports--

At the official ABTM press conference, a reporter from a local Chinese media organization asked the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission chairman Yao Mingbao to define business travel.

It wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that the majority of the 50 odd local journalists who turned up at the conference had little idea what business travel or business travel management meant. But this wasn't unexpected.

China is virgin territory to concepts like business travel management. But exhibitors came in full force - about 160 of them - making it one of the biggest shows in Shanghai coming just after the SARS scare.

"This is afterall the first show and to have such a response is tremendous," said event director Andrew Lee.

The exhibitors utilized all the available meeting space at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai presenting a unique problem of a show that's become too big for a hotel but not yet big enough to be staged at a convention centre.

The big international players were there but conspicuously missing were Chinese players.

"Airlines will be my concentration next year and local Chinese hotel chains. They need to be on board to make it a truly good mix," said Lee.

But exhibitors were disappointed that buyers were conspicuously missing through 150corporate buyers had signed up prior to the show.

"The show needs more publicity. The expectations were there for us but these exhibitions need time," said one exhibitor. Corporate travel departments and travel planners are new concepts in a region where agents still handle corporate travel.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives held education sessions during ABTM that went into the basics of travel management, including one conducted in Mandarin.

"The concept of managed travel is still quite alien in China," said Partick Lai, vice president, head of regional operations, North Asia, Abacus International.

"Usually corporations have no contracts or RFP processes. Guangxi(connections) concept drives a lot of business," he said.

Gino Tan, director of sales and marketing at Swissotel Beijing said. "Not all multinationals in China have a travel manager. It's usually the finance manager or secretary who's doing the job." Identifying the right corporate travel buyers and instilling the value of corporate travel management in them will be in the minds of Lee and his team as they prepare for next year's show.

One change that Lee is introducing next year is having just one category of buyers - instead of a buyer and trade visitor category as in this year - a move which should shore up the buyer numbers.

Shanghai is again set to be the host city for ABTM next year, scheduled for September 1-3.

Asked if ABTM would still be China-focused next year, Lee said "If I may be so bold to so, it would be at least for the next five years."