Business In Motion

Business was brisk at the 11th annual Global Business Travel Association Canada conference and travel expo, which kicked off in Toronto on April 20 and continues through today (April 22).

While the final tally was still to come, Nancy Tudorache, regional director – Canada for GBTA reported that registrations had just about hit 550 for the 2015 event, which features the theme: Business in Motion.

And there certainly was a lot of motion at this year’s conference which featured an opening keynote by Bonnie Brooks, vice-chairman of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Another keynote featured John Stackhouse, senior vice-president, office of the CEO, Royal Bank of Canada and it showcased the Canadian economy in motion, highlighting the impact that globalization and digitization are having on Canadian businesses both now and into the future.

This year’s industry panel – which included Air Canada’s Duncan Bureau; WestJet’s Lyell Farquharson; Best Western’s Dorothy Dowling; Enterprise Holdings’ Mike Guadagnoli; Concur’s Charles Sultan; and which was moderated by the GBTA’s Edward Silver – touched on a bushel-full of hot-button industry issues ranging from the price of oil to rate parity and transparency; from the health of the airline industry to the sharing economy; and a whole lot more.

On the education side of things, the first full-day of the conference featured sessions on End-to-End Expense Management; Supplier Strategy; RFPs; the Evolution of the Travel Policy; Crisis Response; the Connected Business Traveller; and more.

Plus the conference also featured a Travel Expo that provided delegates with the opportunity to talk to some of their favourite suppliers.

And that was only the first day … stay tuned, more on GBTA in upcoming issues.

Seen in the photo on the floor at the Travel Expo at the 2015 GBTA Canada Conference, from l to r, are Maritme Travel’s Sheila MacKay, Michael Work and Gary Gaudry.