BTN Breaks Down Global Travel In Asia

<B> BTN Breaks Down Global Travel In Asia</B>

By Judy Jacobs

Business Travel News is organizing a breakout session on Global Travel Management as part of the 1999 Pacific Asia Travel Association's Annual Conference in Nagoya April 18-22. The panel will be moderated by Edie Garfinkle, BTN's international advertising director, and include Tim Reid, BTN's publisher; Earl Foster, global travel manager of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons and president of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives; and Fred Swaffer, Asia/Pacific travel program manager of Hewlett Packard.

Although PATA in the past has concentrated almost exclusively on leisure travel, the organization is broadening its focus. "There's a great deal of business travel to Asia, and if we're going to promote travel to the region, we have to include business travel," said Bill Hastings, PATA's managing director for the Americas. "I've talked to SITE (the Society of Incentive Travel Executives) and will be talking to NBTA (the National Business Travel Association) about things we can be doing together."

As yet, Hastings noted, "there is not a great understanding of the incentive industry in many of our markets. There are a lot of destinations in the PATA region that are perfect for incentive travel. Many areas cannot handle mass market tourism, but can handle a niche market like incentives. We want to help them be able to do it.