The world’s first global Airline alliance is among the exhibitors at CTW China’s suite of participating leading corporate travel solution brands.
With 19 out of its 28 member carriers operating in China, Star Alliance was drawn to CTW China’s focus on the corporate segment of the Chinese travel industry, and the show’s proven ability to bring together leading industry experts to deliver relevant and quality content. Feng Li, Chairman of Star Alliance Country Steering Council China said, “As an airline alliance aiming to increase our share of the corporate travel market in China, our participation at CTW China will give us broad access to meet with corporate buyers who value such high level engagement and play key roles in formulating and managing their company corporate travel policies.” Feng is also the Deputy General Manager, Sales Department of Air China.
Globally, Star Alliance’s 28 member airlines offer more than 18,500 daily flights serving 1,330 destinations in 192 countries. In China alone, the member airlines serve more than 70 destinations across the country. Customers can choose to fly directly to 75 international destinations in 39 countries from 40 of these Chinese destinations. Including one-stop destinations, the network connects business clients to 879 destinations in 176 countries.
Elaborating on the alliance’s immediate objective at CTW China, Feng explained, “The 19 Star Alliance members present in China will showcase the flexibility of our corporate travel products. We will emphasise the features, advantages and benefits of flying with Star Alliance carriers, whether in individual or multi-carrier corporate agreements.
At the core of its corporate travel offering is the Star Alliance Corporate Plus solution. With this, corporations enjoy a single point of contact for price negotiation and a single legal agreement for any number of member carriers they choose. The plan is tailored to corporations’ specific travel needs, wherever on our network they wish to fly. Ease of contracting, streamlined communications and simple administration save corporations both time and money, and the choice on our network is wide. “We are confident that delegates at CTW China will find our travel solutions offering helpful and relevant to the demands of the modern business traveller.
Added Ooi Peng Ee, General Manager for TTG Events, “CTW China offers a useful platform to facilitate information sharing and meaningful engagement between our delegates. We are heartened by the overwhelming support of all key stakeholders, industry experts, suppliers and buyers. They invest valuable time with us and their passion and willingness to share best practices, experiences, and solutions can only help lay the right foundation to support the growth of the industry.”
A recent Business Travel Index reported that China’s business travel market remains poised to overtake the United States of America as the number one business travel market in the world. The infrastructure development necessary to support the enormous growth in Chinese travel, both business and leisure, continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Supporting this buoyant outlook, Feng shared, “We expect continuous growth for international outbound business travel. Traditional business centers such as Germany, the UK, other European points and the USA still remain as key destinations for Chinese business travelers. There is however great potential for Chinese business travel to developing countries, such as Africa due to China’s infrastructure. At the same time, China’s domestic business travel will grow as local travel buyers become more disciplined in the business of corporate contracting and compliance. This is an area that creates win-win situations for both us and the corporate buyers.”
Corporate Travel World (CTW) China 2016 will be held from 6 – 8 April in Shanghai and is co-locating with IT&CM China, the leading international MICE event in China. For more information, visit www.corporatetravelworld.com/china
