Northstar

NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com Carlson Wagonlit's Travel Management Priorities for 2012 report SINGAPORE – Carlson Wagonlit Travel's newly published The Travel Management Priorities for 2012 report, has indicated that travel managers continue to focus on cost control. The international survey of 290 travel managers undertaken by CWT (a global leader specialized in managing business travel and meetings and events) highlights the main changes likely to affect travel programs, global trends and differences between regions. The top four priorities for travel managers in 2012 concentrate on: • Driving air and ground transport savings • Improving travel compliance • Optimizing hotel spend • Online adoption Travel managers, in order to achieve their goals, improve their communications on travel policy and compliance, helping employees to better understand online booking processes, and mandating the use of preferred suppliers. Communication on preferred suppliers and booking channels will be particularly important as travelers use mobile applications more and more. CWT research also pointed out that travel managers in Asia Pacific place a greater focus on optimizing hotel spend compared to other regions, because they face particularly high occupancy rates in this market. Christophe Renard, VP CWT Strategic Marketing and Business Intelligence said: Top priorities vary slightly depending on the region covered by travel managers. Those responsible for North America, for example, accord more importance to helping travellers adhere to travel policy. Meanwhile, those responsible for Europe, Middle East and Asia or Latin America identify the same priorities as the total sample with a greater focus on driving air and ground savings. In 2012, moderate price increases are expected on the whole, with some stronger variations between countries and travel categories. This cautious market context is reflected in travel managers' priorities, which focus largely on cost control in all regions. Global travel managers tend to identify and implement more measures to drive consolidation and standardization of the travel program, given their role as orchestrator of the travel program across the different regions. Nick Vournakis, VP Global CWT Solutions Group adds: We are expecting the travel spend to be even more complex in 2012 – additional fees, surcharges and credit card booking fees charged by airlines and other suppliers are making it very diffi cult for buyers to effi ciently and accurately compare the full cost of travel between suppliers. HotelTravel.com launches 'Early Spring Cleaning Sale' at 81,550 hotels worldwide PHUKET – HotelTravel.com has launched its 'Early Spring Cleaning Sale' offering incredible savings at over 81,550 hotels worldwide with huge discounts of up to 81.08 per cent of f published rates. HotelTravel.com Chief Information Officer, Olivier Dombey said the sale – with no end date –gives customers a jump on planning hotel stays and holiday getaways before the northern hemisphere peak summer travel period begins. "This kicks off HotelTravel.com largest ever promotion in terms of number of discounted hotel on offer. The company has slashed rates in every country we sell to offer our customers a real choice in terms of hotel deals in the world's most popular travel destinations. "The summer of 2012 should be one of the busiest travel seasons in recent memory, especially in Europe. Hotels in London are already gearing up for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and as are Warsaw hotels, hotels in Kiev and all other major cities hosting the UEFA Euro 2012 football competition," Dombey added Promotional rates are also available from hotels in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Orlando. Scenic Travel appointed as regional GSA for Canada's SINGAPORE – Scenic Travel will target niche FIT and group travellers and provide training sessions to educate travel professionals on promoting Western Canada's Rocky Mountaineer. As general sales agent for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, Scenic Travel believes that there is a growing demand for luxury travel inspite of the economic situation, with travellers "looking for a memorable escape and unique experience". For the 2012 season, running from April to October, Rocky Mountaineer will launch its new Silverleaf Service on all its departures on its fl agship route – First Passage to the West – between Vancouver and Banff/ Calgary. It is now offering an upgrade from Redleaf Service to Silverleaf for its guests . Those who book early can receive savings of up to CAD$1,015 per couple in added value when they book and pay in full before April 15 for a qualifying 2012 package of seven nights or more. 8 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | 14 FEBRUARY 2012 www.travelweeklyweb.com

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