Continuing with the “Leaders’ Meeting”, ALAGEV, TMG, ABRACORP and partners discussed proposals for the event’s 7th edition

Last Friday, July 13, WTM Latin America, the world’s leading event for the Latin American travel industry, continued with its “Leaders’ Meeting” agenda and brought together executives from the Latin American Association of Events and Corporate Travel Managers (ALAGEV), the Travel Management Group (TMG) and the Brazilian Association of Corporate Travel Agencies (ABRACORP), just some of the entities that represent the corporate travel sector, and partners of WTM Latin America.

According to Luciane Leite, director of WTM Latin America, these opportunities are extremely relevant for enriching the Corporate Travel Program. “It’s from these agendas that we align expectations and deliverables and generate content and formats that add value to a robust strategy for the corporate segment, which has been gaining in prominence with every edition of the event.”

Among the topics covered were the performance of organizations, new actions for boosting the corporate travel segment and proposals to provide the sector with more and more improvements in both content and format. It was in a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere that all those present enriched the debate about the next edition, which will take place between 2 and 4 April, 2019 in São Paulo.

“ALAGEV is strengthening its partnership with WTM Latin America and we’re committed to bringing more and more content to the show to attract the corporate audience. The event was so important for us that we took advantage of the occasion to introduce two major actions: we presented the 2018 Corporate Travel Statistics (base year 2017), which is a very important study for the sector because it gives various indicators of behaviour and trends. We also brought together more than 100 associates for our first ever Global Meeting of Communities. Being part of the discussion when thinking about the next edition is essential for us because we want to help make the show even more interesting for the events and corporate travel market,” said Eduardo Murad, executive director of the Latin American Association of Events and Corporate Travel Managers (ALAGEV).

Thais Del Ben, marketing manager of WTM Latin America, reinforced the event’s commitment to the corporate segment. “With an organized and anticipated agenda we have the opportunity to evaluate the best practices of the last edition, stimulate ideas and promote an exchange between the associations and their market partners,” the executive stressed.

It was in this scenario that everyone present had the opportunity to make pertinent observations and relevant suggestions to take utmost advantage of the meeting, by raising ideas and making contributions that add value to the corporate segment.

According to Jahy Carvalho, Executive Director of ABRACORP, this opportunity to meet in advance is an excellent initiative by the organization for aligning the deliverables and expectations of the participants. “For us this meeting, which was organized by WTM Latin America and involved representative entities from the corporate travel segment, is a clear indicator of the degree of professionalism achieved in the sector with the simple and efficient application of the formula: planning, plus content and engagement. The result is success,” says Carvalho.

José Francisco Vieira da Silva, TMG’s executive director added: “The corporate travel segment is the most important for the supply chain and the union of management associations has contributed towards making this market more professional.”

Two partners from the market were present at the meeting in the person of Marina Mio Shimada, Senior Corporate Travel Analyst at HONDA, and José Roberto Fonseca, Associate Director of Merck & Co. Inc., who were able to add to the occasion by bringing their references from the segment.

Fonseca, for example, emphasized the importance of holding frequent meetings between managers, which enables an exchange of experiences in travel management, corporate trends and best practice with regard to buying air tickets and making hotel and car reservations. “Over the last ten years, management has been professionalized and gaining respect in organizations. Another benefit is the concept of benchmarking between industries in the same or different sectors,” concludes Roberto.

Other agendas will take place in the coming weeks and will embody the “Leaders’ Meeting”, which will continue at full steam ahead until the event is held in the first week in April 2019.