Illuminate Shines a Light on the Future of Corporate Travel
From the implementation of AI and technology innovation, to new distribution channels, emerging category trends and socially responsible policies, Illuminate 2019 provided a deep dive into the trends and topics shaping the future of the corporate travel sector.
The event, now in its fourth year, was held on Thursday 12 September in Sydney and is Australia’s largest and most comprehensive corporate travel event. It proved yet again to be a valuable event for education, information and networking, with more than 550 people registered for the day and a total of 24 speakers on stage throughout the various sessions.
The incredible line up of speakers included Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah, international media commentator and digital futurist Chris Riddell, Global Head of Uber for Business Ronnie Gurion and Australian Rugby Legend and business leader John Eales.
The audience consisted of customers of FCTG’s corporate brands FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveller, Stage and Screen Travel Services, cievents and 4th Dimension Business Travel Consulting, and ranged from large corporates, academic, government and entertainment organisations to representatives from SME businesses. They were all kept enthralled by the high calibre of presenters throughout the day, including the highly anticipated NDC panel that had some of the world’s industry experts weigh in on how NDC will shape the future of travel, and the return of FCTG’s Chief Experience Officer John Morhous, whose energetic and inspiring session on artificial intelligence and machine learning was a hit with the audience.
Illuminate lived up to its reputation of being the place to be to hear ground breaking technology and partnerships first, with the announcement of Flight Centre Travel Group’s Australian-Exclusive partnership with Uber for Business and the launch of on-the-spot booking functionality in SAM – a pocket travel assistant available exclusively for customers of FCTG’s corporate brands.
James Kavanagh, Executive General Manager, FCTG Corporate said the objective of FCTG’s technology and industry events like Illuminate, is to continually improve the end-to-end customer experience.
“FCTG continues to make a significant investment in technology and partnerships that will set our customers up for the future of travel, so it was exciting and interesting to hear about our technology alongside the latest developments from our key hotel, ground and airline suppliers,” said James.
“Illuminate 2019 has been a huge success and we’re delighted with the engagement from those who attended.”
Guests also had a unique opportunity to hear emerging travel procurement and category trends first-hand, with panel members from the ANZ Bank, BlueScope, The NRL and the University of Adelaide stepping the audience through the innovative changes they’ve initiated within their procurement programs.
Accor’s Head of Integration Adrian Williams provided a fascinating view into the future of the hotel industry and how the industry will accommodate the influx of millennials and their unique way of conceiving business travel, and Australia’s leading health company Blackmores were honoured as inaugural ‘Illuminators’ in recognition of their contribution to the travel procurement category.
At the conclusion of the speaker sessions, guests were treated to the legendary ‘Light up the Night’ after party, where they had the opportunity to network and win incredible travel prizes thanks to the event sponsors.