Share
Industry data veteran and former EY global supplier leader for travel, meetings and events Tim Nichols has joined Tripbam to develop and lead a new air solutions practice, the company has announced. Now Tripbam vice president of air solutions, Nichols was instrumental in making Tripbam an integral piece of EY’s hotel sourcing process and, as a result, transforming one of the largest hotel programs in the world. The initiative was recognised by Business Travel News, which named global head of travel, meetings and events Karen Hutchings the 2018 Travel Manager of the Year. Nichols and the EY team have also earned awards from the Institute of Travel Management. His previous roles included senior positions at data consultancies TRX and Travel Analytics. According to Tripbam, the air solutions product will launch in the third quarter.
Share
For those despairing of endless Zoom calls, salvation may be at hand. Barring any more lockdowns, face-to-face
meetings and events are finally on their way back.
The most recent monthly
Northstar PULSE Survey of European meeting planners logged a significant jump
in respondents working on live events and a similar fall in those working only
on virtual get-togethers. Across the Atlantic, Betsy Bondurant, president of strategic meetings
management consultancy Bondurant Consulting, sees signs of revival too. She is
observing a trickle of bookings being made for as early as the third quarter of
2021, followed by a steady flow in the fourth quarter and then a tidal wave in
Simone Buckley is vice president of EMEA marketing at TripActions
In the latest episode of BTN Europe s In conversation with. podcast
series, editor-in-chief Andy Hoskins speaks to Simone Buckley who joined TripActions as vice president of EMEA marketing in March.
The former CEO of travel management company Fello, and of the Institute of Travel Management, discusses her new role, TripActions recent acquisition of Reed & Mackay and wider industry consolidation, as well as the organisation s strategy moving forward and the travel industry s recovery.
Click on the player below to listen to or download the episode, or to subscribe to the series via Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Alternatively, explore all previous BTN Europe podcasts here.
Share
Photo Credit: Free-Photos/Pixabay
The business travel sector has expressed its disappointment that the United States is not on the green list of 12 countries from which arrivals into England will not be required to quarantine after the restart of international travel on 17 May. Others have responded to the announcement by Grant Shapps, the UK transport secretary, by calling for the green list to be expanded and for business travellers to be exempt from quarantine.
Andrew Crawley, American Express GBT s chief commercial officer, said, It is hugely disappointing that the United States has not been included on the green list. We welcome that active conversations are underway with the Biden administration, but progress has been too slow.
Share
Photo Credit: Adam Schulz/Yukiya Amano
Industry associations and travel suppliers on
both sides of the Atlantic have written a joint letter to US President Joe
Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for the reopening of travel between
the US and the UK.
The signatories, which include the Institute of
Travel Management, the Business Travel Association, Heathrow Airport, Virgin Atlantic, Airlines for America and the GBTA, say that the success of the two countries’ vaccination programmes represents a significant
opportunity. Both the US and UK are on course to have all adults who want a vaccination
to have received one by the end of July.