FRANKFURT Oneworld, the global airline alliance, chose to announce its entry into the events and convention travel market at IMEX 2013.
The group is comprised of 12 premier airlines, including Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, and has a network of over 850 destinations. At a press conference during the industry trade show in Frankfurt, oneworld unveiled a brand new website, which it promises will meet the travel needs for conference, convention, exhibition and event delegates.
The site allows planners to host events on the site, giving access to attendees. Alongside the streamlined booking tool, users will also receive discounted flights without sacrificing any privileges on benefits, such as air miles. Organisers will also receive credit for using the service, which can be banked upon the completion of group travel.
José Maria Alvarado, director of sales at oneworld, explained that the current data values meeting and incentive based travel at US$1.5 billion per annum. He said: "This is something we‚ve planned to do for sometime and now the technology is available for us to put the service into practice."
The website will also allow for high level of data harvest by organisers, giving them a better understanding of their meeting attendees. Intially, the booking section of the site will only be presented in English. Alvardo said: "We will be looking at translation in the near future, but we wanted to walk before we could run."
The oneworld alliance is the latest airline group to launch such a product. Recently, SkyTeam also unveiled a new look to its existing online booking platform.
For more information, visit, www.oneworld.com
Graeme Park
