The Association Francaise des Travel Managers (AFTM) celebrates its first anniversary in September. Serge Bacchus, a founding member and now its general secretary, tells ABTN what it plans to achieve
The first talks to set up an association for travel managers in France began in April 2008. Most other countries in Western Europe already had well established associations representing the interests of travel buyers but somehow France had missed out.
Serge Bacchus, European travel manager for Unisys and a leading figure in business travel management in France, said the idea for a new association came from a group of industry figures, spurred on by a communication company and one working in the events industry.
The initial group included Michel Dieleman, travel manager of Orange and now president of the Association Francaise des Travel Managers (AFTM).
"There was a need for a travel association in France but we had nothing like it in existence. There was another group but it was very low profile," Mr Bacchus said. Other potential members were approached and agreed to join.
Finally with members from some of the biggest companies in France, the new AFTM was launched in September with an official launch the following month. This was a major travel event attended by 750 people in Paris, among them executives from hotels, airlines and travel agencies.
The AFTM is now professionally structured with a president, three vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer and an eight-strong board.
The goal of the new association was straightforward, Mr Bacchus said: to promote the role of the travel manager. "First of all it was to promote the function of the travel manager, to elevate it but it also aims to bring professional training and also to become a source of influence in the industry and in government," he said.
The invitation to join extended beyond travel managers to buyers and people in HR - anyone, Mr Bacchus said, who was in charge of travel for his or her company. With new members joining - the number is now nearly 200, more than the founders expected - the AFTM began organising its first events.
The aim of these events was for members, many based in the Paris area, to meet and network. "The idea was for us to exchange ideas, to bring new ideas, to talk about our experiences and to help each other, to talk about what is good practice," he said.
The events took the form of monthly meetings, called the Dinner Debates where 50 people - 40 members and 10 sponsors would meet to discuss over dinner - this is France after all - topics of interest to the buyers and to the industry.
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Serge Bacchus |
The Association has managed to attract some big name partners and sponsors with companies like Carlson Wagonlit Travel, American Express Business Travel, SNCF, Air France and Amadeus among the diamond sponsors. Altogether it has attracted 35 partners.
But the Association also aims to develop both a training programme and to firm up relations with other associations in the travel industry. Mr Bacchus said it was now running training sessions and was developing a relationship with young travel students in France.
It has also joined the Paragon group of business travel associations representing buyers in countries around the world include the USA, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Spain. Mr Bacchus attended the Crossroads Europe event in Paris in May, organised by Paragon, where he gave an update on the AFTN's progress.
The AFTM also has good relations with the National Business Travel Association, a leading member of Paragon, as well as with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE). ACTE's regional chair in Europe, Jérôme Drevon-Barreaux, travel manager for CapGemini, is also on the AFTM board.
Mr Bacchus said the AFTM also planned to develop closer relations with the Belgian Association of Travel Management (BATM) and was planning joint meetings, perhaps in Lille later this year.
It is also planning a major celebration in Paris in October of its first anniversary with up to 1,000 people expected to attend.
But he was adamant the Association would remain independent and not seek tie ups with other groups. "We want to be independent and to keep the club spirit that we have. We want to go on exchanging ideas but these will be those that are the main pre-occupations of travel managers. We want to focus on of the travel manager," he said.
www.aftm.fr
Stanley Slaughter