ITB Business Travel Forum: Knowing what is important tomorrow

ADNAN MORDENİZ- TÜRKİYE TURİZM
BERLİN – Smart mobility concepts for the future: on 6 und 7 March 2019 the ITB Business Travel Forum will be providing information on innovative approaches such as mobility apps and ride sharing services, which will have a long-term impact on business travel in the future. The two-day event will also highlight how the business travel market can react to the challenges posed by the ever-quickening pace of new sharing concepts, digitalisation and globalisation. For exhibitors, trade visitors and the media, admission to the ITB Business Travel Forum in Hall 7.1a, Room New York 1, is included in the price of a ticket.

Hans-Ingo Biehl, managing director and member of the presidium of VDR e.V., will welcome the visitors. Day one will begin with a lecture by Prof. Dr.-Ing. André Bruns, a specialist in ’mobility management and transport planning’ at Hochschule RheinMain, who will provide a comprehensive overview of mobility concepts and alternatives. In his view, corporate mobility management is an effective way of optimising a company’s mobility needs. However, this instrument can achieve much more than focusing on business travellers. It needs to take every journey of workers, customers and guests into account to show its real worth and help create solutions to meet the challenges of the dynamic world of mobility and transport.

Afterwards, Jörg Mayer, founder and managing director of CityLoop Travel GmbH, will hold a lecture highlighting innovative sharing concepts and best cases from around the world and analyse prominent examples such as AirBnB and Flixbus from a business traveller’s point of view. Concluding the first day of the ITB Business Travel Forum will be Alexander Mönch, general manager of mytaxi Deutschland, who will talk about ’The shift in urban mobility’.

On 7 March 2019 at 11 a.m., representatives of the VDR Technology Committee, corporations and technology experts will explain how augmented reality can already achieve added value, and how mixed reality is becoming a part of business travel. At 12 noon Katharina Turlo, senior director of Program Management, Central Europe, CWT Carlson Wagonlit Travel, will be asking ’Traveler Centricity: who is travelling there?’. Afterwards, at an event moderated by Christopher Bergau, market manager of Airbnb for Work, travel managers from three countries will relate their experiences working in the sharing economy. Catherine Logan, regional vice president of EMEA, Global Business Travel Association, will conclude day two of the ITB Business Travel Forum with a talk about ‘GBTA Corporate Travel Industry Trends’.

From 6 to 8 March 2019 the Home of Business Travel by ITB & VDR will be the ideal place for visitors to network. National and international travel and mobility managers, young professionals, buyers and office staff will be meeting on the combined stand in Hall 7.1a to talk about opportunities and ways to optimise business travel. On each day from 12 noon to 2 p.m. the VDR will be inviting its co-exhibitors to attend a networking lunch.