On the road

By HE LU (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-06 07:47

For Gregor Lochtie, vice-president and general manager of American Express Business Travel Greater China, the success of his business is now represented by the trend that more Chinese companies are discovering the benefits of effective business travel management.

Three years after the company debuted the China Business Travel Forum (CBTF) in Shanghai 2005, it is finding Chinese companies are showing much greater interest in managing their travel budgets.

"By the number of Chinese companies, we are starting to see the payback the forum has been working," says Lochtie. "While we saw almost all multinationals the first year, this year most of the companies will be Chinese."

The fourth annual CBTF will be held at the Pudong Shangri-la Hotel in Shanghai on October 28-29 with the theme "Bringing the Power of Innovation to Travel Management in China".

Hosted by American Express Business Travel, in partnership with the Shanghai International Conference Management Organization, a division of the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Council, CBTF convenes the travel industry's major players including corporate buyers, suppliers and experts who are seeking greater understanding of the industry in China.

"The aim of CBTF is to educate the market on the advantages of managing travel and having a strong travel management program in their companies. It is an effective platform to bring suppliers and customers together to discuss how they can really maximize savings for their organizations", Lochtie says.

He says many Chinese companies struggle under high travel costs because they have many different suppliers, and business travel is not simply about buying special fares. "It's not just a case of getting bookings. What we do is to manage their total portfolio."

He says that by negotiating deals with the airlines and hotels, having the management tools and information to monitor and control costs, and identifying the areas where the companies have been performing well and where they have opportunities, American Express can normally help companies save 20 percent on their travel costs.

During the first half of this year, American Express Business Travel reported strong performance in the Asia-Pacific with new clients up 33 percent and sales up 36 percent year-on-year to June. As a key growth market, China represents the second largest market after Japan in the region, says Lochtie.

"China is one of the strongly growing markets for American Express. In fact, it is a key growth market for us, along with India."

Despite the general concern over the worldwide economic uncertainties as well as fallout from this year's natural disasters, the Chinese business travel market still registered double-digit growth for American Express.

"For the most part of this year, the growth from the Chinese market has been fairly strong There has been some impact with multinational companies in the global economy, but after the Olympics we will start to see demand rebound again. We think it will continue as the strong growth in the Chinese economy and pent-up demand from Chinese companies this year points to stronger demand next year."

While China is not immune to the growing economic trouble that is prevalent elsewhere in the world, many companies are still looking to China for growth, Lochtie says. "There are also more Chinese companies going out of China, which drives tourism and business travel."

At the annual forum, American Express will also announce its fourth China Business Travel Barometer survey. It provides a comprehensive picture of the travel and entertainment management industry in China. The Barometer covers recent industry changes, existing and expected trends, and developments across travel and expense management on all aspects of the corporate travel industry in China.

This year, increasing numbers of Chinese enterprises are working to budget their travel costs and going online to do so, notes Lochtie, adding that online management tools with built-in policies and supplier programs could maximize their travel savings.

"We have companies using our online booking tool with 90 percent plus of their domestic bookings being online. That is something that is really starting to take off in China."

Lochtie says he believes American Express' China market has in many areas equaled its other markets, or even better.

"The service standard here is the same as the rest of the world. And the right thing about the team here is they are very motivated. People work very hard," he says. "There is a lot of ingenuity and innovation in people pushing things ahead."

(China Daily 10/06/2008 page6)