The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) held its first ever forum in Italy this week.
More than 70 delegates attended the event held at the Hotel De la Ville in Milan.
Jo-Anne Lloyd, ACTE new EMEA regional director who attended and spoke at the event said it "went very well."
She said that more than 70% of those who attended were travel buyers from Milan and Rome.
The half-day programme started with a presentation on “Examining corporate travel policy” by Andrea Guizzardi of the University of Bologna and Maura de Santis, travel manager for Fendi Spa (LVMH).
This looked at the components of a successful and effective travel policy which could not only attract the best supplier agreement for the company and its travellers but also remain flexible enough to take advantage of "deals of the day" or changes in prices.
The second session looked into the corporate reporting process and was presented by Nicoletta Parenti, travel manager for Takeda Farmaceutici and Dario Bongiovanni, travel manager for Sky Italia.
Their presentation focused on traveller tracking, now regarded as an essential of travel management, how to maximize travel spend and how to avoid missing chances to save money.
The presenters told the audience that the quality of data was essential as good information could be used to improve contracts with suppliers.
The presentation was followed by a question and answer session.
Ms Lloyd said she was delighted by the success of the event.
She told BTE after her appointment that she hoped to set up more forums in a wider range of countries which is likely to see future forums in Central and Eastern Europe.
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