GBTA is boosting its leadership and global reach and has named one member each from Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin America (LATAM) as board directors to include the voices of those regions.
London-based GBTA president Mark Cuschieri, said: “In line with our global outlook, I’m delighted to announce the addition of two ex-officio members from the regions of APAC and LATAM to the GBTA board of directors.
“I’m pleased that Peter Koh for APAC and Felipe Cardona for LATAM will serve as ex-officio (non-voting) directors until the latter part of 2024, at which time we hope to finalise the process to give those regions fully elected, voting directors.
“These regional board members will bring unique perspectives and insights that will enrich our decision-making processes.
“This expansion underscores our commitment to being a truly global organisation, fostering international cooperation and ensuring the voices of all our members are heard.”
Koh, who chairs GBTA’s Asia-Pacific advisory board, commented GBTA has become less US-centric, having recognised that APAC is a key region in corporate travel.
GBTA’s Asia-Pacific advisory board chair also shared that Singapore membership is growing well and taking up a big share, and the next two emerging markets are China and India with 37 and 31 members respectively.
As of December 2023, there are 292 regional members with buyers making up 31 per cent and suppliers 69 per cent.
Koh continued: “The goal is to attract every travel manager to be a member, but suppliers will continue to outnumber.”
With growing APAC numbers, Elle Ng-Damarwan, based in Singapore, has joined GBTA as regional director to support members to increase their involvement and to learn from each other.
Koh told TTGmice a number of committees are being set up in areas such as risk, DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), accommodation, young travel professionals and GBTA wants to attract more to join the existing sustainability task force.
Upcoming APAC events this year include a forum in Mumbai, a joint effort by FCM Travel Asia and GBTA, in February; a Singapore networking cocktail in March followed by the GBTA APAC conference later in May 14-15. Taking place at Raffles City Convention Centre, the GBTA APAC conference will be a two-day event that will be co-located with the Worldwide ERC Global Mobility Summit.
