The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA),the voice of the global business travel industry, kicked off GBTA Conference 2017 New Delhi on Friday as part of its India Conference Series 2017.
The annual flagship education and networking event for GBTA India, the conference will deliver a knowledge forum on best practices across the business travel lifecycle through a mix of panel discussions and presentations.
During the one-day event, Gaurav Sundaram, GBTA India Regional Director, presented the GBTA Foundation's outlook for the Indian business travel market and lead a CXO Roundtable on the future of business travel in India. The day saw feature sessions on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and its impact on business travel, the travel industry's most innovative solutions and ideas, employee mobility, hotel contracting and smart buying strategies with airlines.
An awards presentation also took place for two of GBTA India's advisory board members who were honored with the prestigious Business Travel Professional Service Award during GBTA Convention 2017 last month in Boston. Mritunjaya Chandra Mohan, Regional Travel Manager (INDIA,JAPAC,EMEA) - Global Procurement, Adobe Systems, and Arif Patel, Vice President Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Loyalty, Accor Hotels, are the first ever Indian recipients of this award.
The award is reserved for a select group of experienced travel professionals who have distinguished themselves as industry leaders. These professionals have devoted themselves to GBTA through their region or chapter. They stand out at their jobs, and they are recognised leaders within the industry.
Mritunjaya has been a member of the India advisory board since its inception last year and his valuable contributions have helped develop and deliver the initial symposium as also the workshop series in India. He is recognised by his peers for building strong collaborative relationships with industry partners and for implementing the most innovative elements into his company's business travel program.
Arif is a founding advisory board member of GBTA in India and his unqualified support was critical in ensuring our successful inaugural 2016 event in New Delhi. He has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry in South Asia and has independently conducted research used by hotel operators, investors and trade analysts to evaluate the feasibility of a hotel in relation to the air capacity within its geography, within India.
The GBTA Conference 2017 was held at the Hotel Pullman in New Delhi's Aerocity.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents.
The GBTA's 9,000-plus members manage more than USD 345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually.
GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts.
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