Published on : Monday, February 4, 2013
This year Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) is partnering with Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) on the educational content of their 21st event to be held at Melbourne, Australia from February 26-27. One of the ACTE’s education sessions titled “Where Savings Meet Success” will be addressed by Senior Director, Meetings & Events Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
According to a recent report by Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Asia-Pacific will experience some of the highest global M&E price inflation in 2013, topped only by the booking Latin America region. This will be driven by hotel prices in particular, as Asia-Pacific boasts some of the highest hotel occupancy rates in the world, allowing suppliers to command premium hotel rates. With cost per attendee per day increasing 5 – 7% next year, Asia-Pacific based meeting planners will be forced to reduce group sizes by 3.1 – 4.5% to offset rising costs. But are there other options available? M&E spend typically representing 25 – 40% of a total travel and entertainment budget, but in most companies it remains unchartered territory with fragmented purchasing and few contracts with preferred suppliers.
By applying the same principals of effective travel management to meetings and events programs companies can achieve tangible savings. A well-managed meetings and events program has well established concrete policies, a centralised organisation, often integrating meetings and events with travel management, negotiated preferred supplier contracts, consolidated data, web-based technology from registration to payment, and streamlined payment and reconciliation processes. The overall results represent significant savings of up to 20%.
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