Festive Road, the travel and meetings engagement agency has announced that managing partner Caroline Strachan, will fulfill a role of NDC Business Travel Envoy for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) during 2016.
The New Distribution Capability (NDC) is a travel industry-supported program launched by IATA. Its goal is the development and market adoption of a new, XML-based data transmission standard that is intended to enhance communications between airlines and travel agents.
Ms Strachan will join her partner Paul Tilstone, who will retain his role as an envoy for IATA after fulfilling the post during 2015. The partners will co-ordinate a project which will see a stepped up process of engagement with the business travel community during the year. The pair will specifically focus on dialogue between IATA and corporate travel buyers, Travel Management Companies (TMCs) and technology aggregators.
Talking about the project, Ms Strachan said, “It has become clear to me that personalization and richer content offer a plethora of opportunities for our industry. To have the chance to be at the heart of that opportunity and help shape a better industry is something I relish. The timing is perfect for buyers and the supply chain to work better together if we approach this right. Having worked across different links in the business travel supply chain, from buyer to TMC to association, I have seen first-hand what fantastic results you can achieve through better collaboration. I am delighted to be in a position to now help drive this initiative”
Mr Yanik Hoyles, IATA Director NDC Program, said, “When we knew that Caroline was joining Paul (Tilstone) to lead their partnership deeper into engagement services, we saw a great opportunity to enhance our work with the business travel community. We’ve seen a real sea change in opinion regarding NDC in the last year and it’s a good time to build on that and make sure the business travel sector grasps the opportunity at hand.”
Tilstone and Strachan will work jointly with IATA, acting as critical friends and trusted advisors to all business travel stakeholders involved within the NDC project.
http://ndcbiztravel.iata.org/index.htm
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