Conferma has appointed Desmond Chong director of business
development in Southeast Asia. He will lead the payment company's new Singapore
office. Chong, who has more than 20 years of experience in business travel,
most recently served as senior manager of Asia/Pacific regional business and
market development for American Express Global Business Travel. He previously
worked for Abacus International.
Asia/Pacific will represent half the global total for
corporate travel spending, $900 billion, by 2025, according to a forecast Amadeus
released last year. And China alone remains one of the fastest-growing business
travel markets in the world. The Global Business Travel Association expects
spending there to grow 9.2 percent to $317.9 billion this year and to reach $344.6
billion in 2017. The country represents nearly a quarter of global business
travel spending, said GBTA executive director and COO Michael McCormick.
Conferma will serve that monstrous Asia/Pacific market
with two virtual card confirmation processes it developed this year to replace
fax confirmation:
email
and
direct
connections with hotels.