Fredrik Hermelin, the General Manager of the Swedish Business Travel Association (SBTA), discusses the increasing importance of sustainability within business travel, highlighting the large corporations that are reducing unnecessary travel to promote environmental responsibility. He identifies communication and innovative business models as key to the industry's successful navigation of this shift. Hermelin also expresses the desire to expand SBTA's geographical focus and membership, while encouraging a shift away from a procurement-centric approach to travel management.
Despite the billions of euros they spend collectively, Europe’s corporate travel managers go largely unheard by regulators. The massive inconvenience of the European Union’s formal requirement for anyone travelling for work to carry A1 social security certificates “is a good example why BT4Europe was founded,” says Christoph Carnier, president of VDR, the German travel management association.