ViajesCorp: academic program and first-class scenery

by María Cecilia Hernández Ocampo
After two years of having Medellin as the main venue, ViajesCorp Americas returns to Bogotá to celebrate its latest version. The venue and dates are already set: Sheraton Hotel, May 3 and 4, 2012.

The return of the Congress to the Colombian capital has several motivations that convinced the organization that this was the best decision.


According to Sebastián Fernández, vice president of operations of Latinpress, Inc, the publishing house organizing the Congress, "the positive growth of ViajesCorp is demanding a change of scenery and, in that sense, Bogotá is able to meet these demands”.


The organizers of the event explain that among the reasons for choosing this city we can mention that they have very good facilities, ample spaces and excellent technology. Likewise, the main international companies that are of interest to both the organization and our guests are present there. In addition, we will be closer to the travel managers who could not join us in the two previous versions, when the Congress was held in Medellin.

With this decision, complements Fernández, they are looking for a massive participation of professionals to both the academic programming and the trade show, and it is expected that this audience will be mostly composed of travel managers in the Latin American region.

Similarly, the expectations are aimed at the loyalty of those who have accompanied the event continuously during these six years and to ensure that its trade show has the presence of high-level companies, according to Fernández reports that some of them have already confirmed their participation.

Professionals who guarantee quality
On the other hand, a thorough planning and analysis of the program by the Academic Committee, made up of a group of professionals from the region, will be carried out;

The Academic Committee, made up of a group of renowned professionals from the Latin American region and other latitudes, also defined the activities and topics to be addressed during the two days of the event.

The choice of this Committee was the first step that was successfully taken to guarantee the attendees of the event an agenda of international stature, with contents consistent with the world vanguard and the current discussions of corporate and business travel.

Five professionals are part of the team of experts who unified their visions and knowledge of the market to reach a varied and quality programming: conferences, forums, panels, lectures and workshops, will be part of the academic agenda to be held in 2012.

Fernando Pablo Montes, head of the Travel Management Department of Telefónica, Argentina, and winner of the 2011 ViajesCorp Americas Corporate of the Year Award; Marian Caturla, manager of the Asociación Española de Gestores de Viajes de Empresas (AEGVE); Óscar García, founding partner of Forum Business Travel de España; Mauricio Ríos, manager and founder of Open Incentive, Colombia, and Argentine Rubén Wertheimer, partner of Airline Information for Latin America and president of the Revenue Conference for Airlines (CILA), are the people who for nearly three months evaluated, proposed and debated topics in an effort to make ViajesCorp Americas 2012 an unforgettable event.

As very few in the Latin American region, ViajesCorp Americas has dedicated the last seven years to specialize the actors of the corporate travel segment in technical issues of their industry and update them on global trends in the travel management market.


Programming not to be missed
In this perspective, in its next version, the congress will offer a varied menu of topics ranging from technical and technological, to economic and financial;

Thus, in the technical and technological areas of the event, attendees will be able to participate in topics such as “The travel manager 2.0: the trend of managing online”, a conference that will give á to know the ú latest news and the advantages of online travel management systems, the online booking tools and opportunities in the network.

In the same category are the workshop "Social media strategies for travel managers", the lecture "SLA (service level agreement) and supplier compliance" and the case study "Before and after implementing a successful travel policy".

Another thematic block is the one that will deal with the daily discussions of travel managers and that are usually the subject of politics: "Frequent business traveler vs. travel manager”, is a forum that will give á to know the real needs of a frequent business traveler, against the real possibilities of management of corporate travel managers.

From this same approach, a testimonial forum will be held on the subject of "The decision of the travel manager in the face of temporary situations: natural disasters, social and security situation in each country”, which will show and analyze the options and decisions of a travel manager when one of the executives of his company must go or is traveling in a country with a specific problem.

A further conference in this category is "Insurance, Visas and Taxation in Corporate Travel", which will delve into the subject of business travel insurance, benefits and costs. And it seeks toá establish whatá are the main drawbacks in the visa processes for a business traveler and the consequences thereof.

VCA 2012, at the forefront
Continuing with the varied catálogo of activities, a área ática has been opened to developá trendy content; among them is the panel “When the world economyíThe panel will analyze how to design a "flexible" travel policy that can anticipate and adjust to the constant changes in the global economy.

Likewise, "Environmental impact of business travel and green or social responsibility policy" will be a case study that seeks to show the strategy implemented by a renowned Colombian institution to reduce the environmental impact of its business travel.

Incentive travel will have a reserved space at ViajesCorp Américas 2012 with the conference “New trends in incentive travel for employees”, which will giveá a look at the new destinations and types of trips that are positioned in the incentive travel segment.


In this way, the organization of the event, together with the members of the Academic Committee, has sought to cover all the points of view, approaches and discussions currently presented by the industry, in order to please the demanding public that usually attends the Congress.

Finally, Sebastián Fernández confirmed the holding of the Second ViajesCorp Americas Corporate of the Year Award, an initiative that appreciates and recognizes the work of corporate travel managers in the Latin American region and which in its first version was very well received by professionals in the industry.


"The names of the nominees are still a secret that will be revealed very soon," commented Fernandez.