global business travel magazine may june 2013

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contents MAY | JUNE 2013 4 communiquWe Hear You

Readers weigh in on airline consolidation, airport hotels, and the Beatles.

6 letter from MikeBRIC by BRICGBTA remains committed to delivering timely, actionable intelligence to help members navigate the worlds economic hotspots.

8 like a localSo PauloGBTAs Wellington Costa shares tips on where to have fun and great food in his beloved city.

16 research + developmentsAsias Live WireSo youve never heard of a gazelle-o-phant? Read on.

features 20 Tata

Ratan Tatas business practices helped de ne the conceptof BRIC long before the acronym was coined.

24 BRICBrazil, Russia, India, and China are lands of opportunityand challengefor todays business travel planners.

34 How Do You Say Service in Japanese?Cultural diff erences take to the skies.

38 op/edA Firm Grip on BRICKevin Maguire, GBTAs President and CEO weighs in.

40 best practicesEndless SummerWhat happens when forward-thinking companies try to de ne time off ?

42 the last wordGerald HatherlyAbercrombie & Kents man in China knows the ropes when it comes to doing business (and seeing the sights) in this BRIC nation.

Cover illustration by Mark Stutzman

Coming up in the July/August issueCONVENTION TIME! Read about our keynote speakers, nd out how to get the most from the Conventionin spectacular San Diegoand lots more.

Global Business Travel3

communiqu

We Hear YouBEATLES IN THE SKYThe Letter from Mike page in the March/April issue says that the Beatles rst ight to the USA was on TWA. I guess Im old enough to remember that the group came over on Pan Am into Kennedy. I saw the TWA picture and knew it didnt look right.Bob GotthartBusiness Travel Manager, Kohler

Mea culpa; right you are. Glad to see you are reading Global Business Travel magazine so closely! Mike McCormick, Executive Director and COO, GBTA

In his story Band on the Run [Global Business Travel, March/April 2013], Peter Greenberg details the paramili-tary operation type travel require-ments for Paul McCartneys tour. Involving some 130 people, 27 trucks, a 747 cargo plane, multiple cars, hotel rooms with late check-in and late check-out, catering, advance travel teams, and contingency plans, its nothing short of a travel management miracle. Having had the privilege of attending two of Sir Pauls concerts, I

Top: NY Daily News via Getty Images, Bottom: Bettmann/Corbis4May | June 2013

can con dently say that all the behind the scenes acrobatics are worth it!Mike CameronCEO, Christopherson Business Travel

A GREAT BIG AIRPORT HOTEL The Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel & Conference Center is Europes largest airport business hotel, with more than 1,000 hotel rooms and suites plus 60 conference rooms and lots of public spacesall within walking distance of Terminal 1 and just a short Skyline train ride from Terminal 2. The Link@Sheraton is a state-of-the-art working lounge integrated into our cozy hotel lobby caf. Why sit in your room to write emails or surf the web? Get out and enjoy the buzz in the lobby and indulge in some coff ee and cake. So, if you plan a trip to Frankfurt, if you want to organize a conference, have a lay-over at Frankfurt airport, or just want to have a cup of coff ee in an unhurried atmosphere at Europes busiest airport, I would be delighted to see you!Sascha Konter General Manager, Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel & Conference Center

THE SKYS THE LIMITThank you for bringing the subject of shrinking air service to the ground. The

rami cations of airline consolidation, all too familiar to many of us, are nicely summed up by Cincinnatis Mayor Mal-lory, who was quoted in your article [Whats Gonna Fly; March/April issue]. In our townRichmond, VirginiaJon Mathiasen, CEO, RICAirport Commis-sion, is on the front lines.

This is a very complex and important issue facing communities across the globe, with millions at stake to win or lose. It takes a community to make a diff erence: airport, chamber of com-merce, corporations (large and small), and travel managers. We must all take seats at the table to close the ultimate deal: Fly to our town!

Then the hard part. An airline has to balance its service portfolio, resist complacency, support the service fought so hard for, and neverever!take the health of air service anywhere for granted.

So I ask my peers in the industry to lend a hand to community lead-ers to help ensure that the air service we need is available. No one better to educate than an air service buyer part-nering with air service suppliers! Donna KelliherDirector, Travel & Corporate Services, Dominion Chair, RIC Major User Group Task Force

Let us hear from you: Contact us at [email protected]

Head to the HubProvided by the Global Business Travel Association, the Hub is where busi-ness travel professionals go to connect and collaborateits peer-to-peer learning unmatched in the industry. The Hub also houses the worlds largest digital resource library dedicated to business travel, providing a wealth of intelligence, from research studies to webinars, benchmarking tools to event presentations. Drop by gbta.org/hub to share your thoughts on stories in this magazine as well as topics youd like to see addressed in these pages.

1965

1964

Taj. Forever seductive, forever trusted, forever enchanting. From authentic Indian palaces to landmark c it y hotel s , f rom da z z l i ng re sor t proper t ie s to pa stor a l sa fa r i lodge s, enjoy a t houg ht f u l blend of tradit ion and modernit y in the dist inctive and highly persona l Taj manner. Fabulous suites, splendid d i n i ng , a nd t r a nqu i l Jiv a spa s aw a it . Di sc over t he Taj d i f ferenc e at over 10 0 hotel s a rou nd t he world.

India New York Boston Sa n Fra ncisco London Ma rra kech Cape Tow n Za mbia Duba i Ma ldives Sr i La n ka La ng kaw i Bhuta n Sydney

For reser v at ion s a nd spe c ia l of fer s plea se v i sit t ajhotel s .c om, ema i l reser v at ion s @ t ajhotel s .c om, c a l l 1.86 6.969.1825 i n t he U.S. a nd Ca nada, 1.8 0 0.111.825 i n I nd ia a nd 0 0.8 0 0.4588.1825 f rom a l l ot her cou nt r ies tol l f ree or cont ac t you r t r avel con su lt a nt .

Twenty years ago, the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China were considered exotic destinations. They were not neces-sarily thought of as leading business travel destinations, burgeoning trade hubs, or economic hotspots.

But today, all of those labels could be used to describe these dynamic countries. They have arrived on the world economic stage and as a result have their own popular acronym: BRIC.

Even though this has happened in the media spotlight, the man on the cover of our magazine is likely someone you do not recognize. However, I guarantee that you have heard of his companys brandsJaguar, Range Rover, Taj Hotels, and Tetley Teajust to name a few.

Ratan Tata is one of the most fascinating entrepreneurs in the world. As chair-man of Indias Tata Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, he revolutionized the business world. The Tata Group, a monumental business suc-cess, has created thousands of jobs and reinvested billions of dollars in India through various philanthropic outlets. The Tata Group is a cutting-edge model of corporate behavior.

Today, BRIC countries are thriving like never before, putting forth business travel growth and employment numbers that are simply astounding. According to GBTAs research, China is poised to surpass the United States business travel market as early as 2014. Chinas infrastructure is growing at such a staggering speed that it is dif cult to comprehend. Plans are in place for 100 new airports over the next decade, and there are also more than 500 hotel construction proj-ects currently underwaythe most anywhere in the world. Brazil is currently ranked eighth globally in business travel spend and is on pace to surpass Italy, France, and the United Kingdom over the next two years. Russias hotel room growth is up almost 25 percent, with another 21,000 rooms in the pipeline. And India is projected by GBTA to experience a phenomenal 18.5 percent compound-

ing growth rate in business travel spend from 2012 to 2016, the fastest in the world.

Even ten years ago, all of this growth would have seemed impossible and unimaginable. GBTA has been responding to this changing global economic landscape and the needs of the business travel professional to keep pace with these changes. Like Ratan Tata and his Tata Group, GBTA is striving to revolutionize the business travel profession by providing the resources needed for our members success.

One BRIC at a time.

Michael W. McCormick is executive director and

chief operating offi cer of GBTA.

letter from Mike

BRIC by BRICtravel GLOBAL BUSINESS

10%

Executive Director and COO Michael W. McCormick

PublisherEdward D. Silver

E D I T O R I A L S T A F FEditor in Chief

Sheila F. Buckmaster

Art DirectorBob Gray

Editor at LargePeter Greenberg

Editorial ContributorsMargie Goldsmith, Barbara Noe,

Irene Rawlings

Image ConsultantSabine Meyer

ResearcherHusna Haq

A D V E R T I S I N G

Vice Presidents, Business DevelopmentLaurin Ensslin [email protected]

Melanie Garrett [email protected] Markus [email protected]

Peggy Miller Dolphin [email protected]

G B T A O F F I C E R SPresident

Kevin MaguireVice President

Donna KelliherChair/Past President

Craig A. Banikowski

G B T A B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R SJoseph Carino, Jr.Christle Johnson

Michelle (Mick) LeeEric Norberg

Douglas L. PayneBhart Sarin

Scott A. SolombrinoCaroline Strachan (Advisor)

Denise TrusoDouglas Weeks

Floyd M. Widener (Advisor)

P R E - P R E S S A N D P R I N T I N GPhoenix Lithographing Corporation

6May | June 2013 Tim Graham/Corbis

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA)is the worlds premier business travel and

meetings organization. Collectively, GBTAs 5,000-plus members manage over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures

annually. GBTA provides its network of 17,000 business and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service

providers, with networking events, news, education & professional development,

research, and advocacy.

All opinions expressed in this magazine are

those of the contributors and do not necessarily re ect the opinions or policies of GBTA.

Stories of change. Stories of technological wizardry. Stories of

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They help change our industry and improve our profession.

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Join the voices of business travel transformation with the

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Wellington Costa, the Global Business Travel Associations Director Regional Brasil, sums up his beloved So Paulo thusly: It wakes up early and stays up late. Here, he offers tantalizing tips to keep you happy from morning to deep into the night.What is the rst place you take friends who come for a visit to your city?The 80-year-old, supersize Mercado Municipal de So Paulo brims with all kinds of fresh food, but most important for visitors is the Gourmet Lounge. Try tasty local fare and be sure to take in the market buildings true beautyunderscored by stained-glass windows created by Russian artist Sorgenicht Conrad Filho.

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Rua Oscar Freire

Your favorite cultural outpost?Museu de Arte de So Paulo (MASP) possesses Latin Americas most com-prehensive collection of Western art. Hovering above a concrete plaza that turns into an antiques fair on Sundays, the museum, designed by architect Lina Bo Bardi and completed in 1968, is considered a classic of modern-ism by many and an abomination by a vocal few. The collection is unim-peachable, ranging from Goya to El Greco to Manet. The Impressionist collection is particularly impressive. Dont miss the museums great Bra-zilian paintings, including Cndido Portinaris powerful, haunting can-

vases. Tucked on the museums lower level is a pleasant cafeteriaperfect for refreshments and relaxation after some art viewing.

Where do you go for some country in the city?So Paulos version of Central Park, Parco Ibirapuera off ers peace, quiet, and a wealth of strolling venues, from a duck- lled plaza to lagoon trails. Bikes for rent are another get-around option. Or you can simply sit back with a book or magazine borrowed from the parks Bosque de Leitura. On Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the parks Praa da Paz lls with the sound of musicfor free. And not far from the parks Gate 3 youll nd two more ne cultural outposts: the excellent So Paulo Museum Afro Brasil and the Ipirapuera Auditorium, a cool

Downtown, viewed from Terrao Itlia

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like a local ying-saucer-like building that show-cases worthwhile traveling art installa-tions.

Favorite street for a stroll? That would be Oscar Freire. Besides the high-end stores (the likes of Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Versace), you will nd a great number of excellent bars and restaurants. And its a great people-watching venue.

Place of choice for a cup of coff ee and a chat with a colleague? Santo Gro on Rua Oscar Freire, open from breakfast until the wee hours. Or Starbucks at Alameda Santos.

What spot would you choose for a romantic evening?Riding high atop Edifcio ItliaBrazils second tallest buildingthe restaurant Terrao Itlia is romance central, with candlelight and stunning city views set-ting the scene. Dont be surprised to see couples lost in each others eyes. This is that sort of place, with marriage proposals the norm! If you dont feel like lingering over a long meal, you can sip a cocktail while enjoying soothing tunes in the piano baralso with write-home-about city tableaus.

A casual restaurant you particularly enjoy?A bastion of Brazilian slow-roasted meat (it doesnt get more local than this), Barbacoa, in the Itaim neighbor-hood, is tops. Most of what ends up on the grill here is avored solely with rock salt; during the cooking process, the inherently authentic avors are tanta-lizingly captured by the open ames. The freshly grilled delights are left on the skewers, brought to your table, and carved in front of you by staff ers known as passadores. Grilled vegetables round out the main-dish plates. The churrasco menu features an all-you-can-eat set course that includes beef, pork, chicken, linguica (sausage), vegetables, and more. The salad bar (included) boasts a cornucopia of more than 40 types of fresh vegetables and regional side

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duction. The lyrics were translated into Portuguese by Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil. Finally, a nightcap in the Vila Madalena neighborhood, rich with bohemian nightlife.

Your favorite day trip? Guaruj, on Santo Amaro Island, has some 14 miles of beachfront, plus patches of preserved rain forest and a superb aquariumall just about 60 miles from the city. Many locals (pau-listanos) own vacation houses in Gua-ruj and keep them available for rentals during part of the year. Ru nos Restaurant is a good choice for tra-ditionally prepared fresh seafood. Reserve in advance.

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14May | June 2013

dishes, including palmitos (hearts of

palm) and feijoada (traditional black

bean stew).

Can you describe a perfect night on the town.I usually start with dinner at Figueira

Rubaiyat, which is known for gentri ed

country dining (great beef!) and a

bring-the-outside-in decor that features

a fat-limbed tree. The restaurant is cen-

trally located, a block from tree-lined

and shop- lled Rua Oscar Freire. After a

leisurely meal, the night continues with a

show at one of the citys more than 50

theaters. Theater Renault is currently

staging the rst Brazilian Lion King pro-

Churrasco at Barbacoa

Figueira Rubaiyat restaurant

Bar in Vila Madalena

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Asias Live WireChina is the size of an elephant, but it is moving like a gazelle, says Joe Bates, GBTAs Foundation research guru, who refers to China as a gazelle-o-phant. Not surprisingly hes got the stats to prove this provocative assertion.

16May | June 2013

Biz travel spend for BRICs other three-quarters

Some 6 to 8 percent of Chinas biz travel growth will come from rising travel prices; the remainder, how-ever, represents real increases in trip vol-ume and spend-per-trip numbers.

China is poised to become the largest business travel market in the world in 2015. (The U.S. busi-ness travel market is expected to grow at roughly one-third Chinas rate over the next few years.)

According to the latest forecasts for 2013 business travel spend-ing, China comes in at $226 billion (USD) and the United States at $269 billion (USD).

Between 2012 and 2016, Russias business travel spending is forecast to increase an average of nearly 8 percent a year, from $22 billion (USD) to $30 billion (USD), making it one of the fastest growing markets in Europe.

India is where China was ten years ago. It is projected that by 2023 India will have the level of biz travel spend currently seen in the United States.

Ranked as the ninth largest business travel market in 2012, Brazil will move past Italy in 2013, then France and South Korea in 2014, placing it in the num-ber 6 spot. Watch out, UK, you just might be upstaged next, says GBTAs Joe Bates.

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Way before the BRIC slogan was ever coined, Ratan Tata had already de ned it. As chair-man of Indias Tata Group (one of the worlds most powerful conglomerates) and perhaps the most powerful business-man in India, he had already transformed a sprawling group of disparate companies, including Taj Hotels, into a multi-billion-dollar corporate powerhouse that was instrumental in putting India on the global business map. Today, youll see the name Tata stamped everywhere you look: luxury and economy car brands, buses, telephone calling cards, watches, satellite television, steel, even Starbucks. Ratan Tata has quietly, without much publicity or fanfare, created an interna-tional company that existsand competeson a global scale. Whats more, his is a company that also understands its corporate responsibility to its own com-munity. And when Tata retired at the end of last yearon his 75th birthdayhe left more than a company. He left behind a legacy that changed an entire nation and continues to grow.

To meet Tata, you would never guess at the size and power of that legacy. A quiet, humble dreamer is how most people describe him. And hes an adventurer: As a licensed pilot, he made his rst solo ight at age 17, and hes a certi able car nut, with a showroom-worthy collection of luxury vehicles, including a Maserati Quattroporte and a Ferrari California.

But it was on his watch that the Tata Groupa family-run, multinational con-glomerate ourished while maintaining its core foundation of corporate sustain-ability and a strong code of ethics.

Tata, who began his career with the company on the shop oor of Tata Steel, was named chairman of the Tata group in 1991, succeeding his uncle, JRD Tata. It happened very suddenly, he says. When he [JRD Tata] calls you up and says this is what he wants you to do, it shakes you up. Suddenly you feel all alone.

I had two problems: One was the actual marketplace of a large business house that had operated very traditionally; the other was internal to the company of several titans who didnt want any change to take place, Tata recently explained to an audience at Stanford University.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India recently sur-veyed some 75 top CEOs and heads of domestic and foreign companies worldwide and found that the Tata Group was perceived to be Indias best known global brand both within India and outside the country.

Ratan Tata certainly had a vision to globalize the Tata empire, says Rajiv Khanna, mergers and acquisitions attorney for K&L Gates and President of the India-America Chamber

TATA20May | June 2013

by Peter Greenberg

22May | June 2013

PG: Why do you think its suddenly now that everybody is in love with the BRIC countries?

RT: It seems that as the developed world attens out, people are looking at BRIC as a group of coun-

tries with potential opportunity. They have skilled

workers, a huge marketplace, and lower costs.

PG: What are the roadblocks in India? RT: We inherited from the British a lot of red tape and seem to culturally embrace the con-

straints and suspicions that go with it. Weve

come a long way but still have a long way to go.

Business travelers need people on the ground in

India who can blunt the sharpness of the blade

of bureacracy.

PG: New places and markets?RT: I want to travel to more countries in Africa because this is truly a continent that has yet to

awaken. It could be the next big BRIC. But in

terms of doing business on a global scale, the les-

son of Africa is really the lesson of the devloping

countries around the world. Globalization doesnt

mean that you need to make everything the same.

Wherever weve gone at Tata, we try to run the

companies as though they were our companies in

India, but run them by and with locals so that the

general feeling is that the company is a local com-

pany driven to make the local employees succeed.

PG: Do you y commercial now that youre retired?RT: Now that Im not chairman, Im making an eff ort to use commercial planes whenever the

direct route is available and use corporate jets

only when there isnt an alternative.

PG: So I have to ask the obvious question. When

President Clinton was asked what he missed

most about being President, he didnt hesitate to

answer: Air Force One. I suppose you feel the

same way about your Gulfstream?

RT: I do miss it. I do, very much.

PG: And let me guess. . .you probably miss it every time you board a commercial jet.

RT: Yes and no. A commercial jet like the one I ew on this morning to New York, with at beds,

can be very pleasant. But its really the entire

process of commercial ight thats the hassle. Id

say what happens on the ground is a far greater

contrast to what happens in the air. On one hand

theyre putting as much technology as they can

into the security apparatus to try to speed it up.

But when you walk into a small security area and

take one look at the crowds, you gulp because

you think youll miss your ight. You eventually

get through, but you take off your shoes, you

take off your belt, you take everything from your

pocket. . .its just sort of semi-undressing each

and every time you go somewhere.

PG: So really, at the end of the day, even though you have to subject yourself to those security

lines to get on commercial aviation, when you

land at least youre driving well in a Jaguar or

Land Rover, two venerable brands now thriving

under the Tata umbrella.

RT: Well, now that you mention it, yes. The driving is subsantially more enjoyable than the

security line.

For a complete transcript of the Tata/Greenberg

interivew, go to gbta.org.

Ratan Tatas WorldEditor at Large Peter Greenberg caught up with the corporate titan and philanthropist in May to talk businessand travel.

of Commerce. You see evidence all over the world: the Jag-uar, the Pierre in New York City. But India is still largely a domestic growth story.

In fact, one can say that the trajectory of Tatas growth parallels the story of India.

In order to grow the company he had to go against some longstanding, ingrained opposition to global growth. Ive never believed protectionism will lead us anywhere, Tata has said. I think you can have certain speci c rules for engaging with India. . .but there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that when you open an economy you should do it in totality.

In 2000, Tata Tea Limited bought out all the brands of UK-based Tetley Tea for $431.3 million, the largest acquisi-tion of an international brand by an Indian-owned company. In 2006, Tata Steel beat out Brazils Companhia Siderrgica Nacional to take over Corus Group, shelling out more than $12 billion. The auto world was taken aback in 2008 when Tata Motors bought out two British icons, Jaguar and Land Rover, for $2.3 billion. If that wasnt a shocker, Tatas next auto move clearly was.

Tata had always envi-sioned manufacturing a car that was affordable for his nations grow-ing middle class. In the same year Tata took over Jaguar and Land Rover, the company introduced the Nano. The tiny vehicle, mea-suring a mere 10 feet by 5 feet, came with sticker shock. It was unbeliev-ably inexpensive: just $2,200 for the base model, making it a viable option for millions of Indians.

Tata also made great strides in embracing information technology in the 1990s, and today Tata Consultancy Ser-vices is Indias largest IT giant.

Over the course of a decade, the group acquired 22 companies for nearly $18 billion. Group sales have grown nearly 57 times since Tata took over in 1991, and group pro ts have increased almost 40 times. Perhaps most sig-ni cant in all of this? Nearly 65 percent of Tatas revenue now comes from overseas.

Today, the Tata group is comprised of more than 100 companies, accounting for 7 percent of the stock market and paying for 3 percent of all Indias corporate tax. It employs more than 450,000 people and generates more than $100 billion in revenue.

Tata himself holds about a 1 percent share of Tata Sons, with a personal holding of about $1 billion. And yet Tata is not one of the richest people in India. Thats not because he isnt capable, emphasizes Gunjan Bagla, author of Doing Business in 21st Century India and managing director

of Amritt, a California-based management advisory ser-vice. Its because of the very structure of the Tata group. They are stewards of a charitable trust. Bill Gates and War-ren Buffet were not the rst to think about charity on a massive, global scale.

Today, the Tata trusts control 66 percent of the shares of Tata Sons, the promoter holding company of the group. It is responsible for funding a number of projects and research institutions, and each individual Tata company puts a percentage of its income into those trusts.

Theres enviable history here. The Tata group created one of the worlds rst charitable trusts back in 1892, with the J.N. Tata Endowment for Higher Education. And in 1898, Jamsetji Tata pledged half of his personal wealth to what is now the Indian Institute of Science in Banga-lore. Ratan Tata was recognized in 2012 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Rockefeller Foundation for innovation in philanthropy. He may be of cially retired, but he remains active as the chairman of the Sir Ratan Tata

Trust, a philanthropic institution established in 1919 that has a bigger endowment than many of the top Fortune 500 companies have on their balance sheets.

It could be said that Ratan Tata has gone from acquiring companies to building communities. A few examples: The Central India Initiative is working toward alle-viating poverty in the nations tribal belt; Him-

mothan Pariyojana is focusing on rural development in a Himalyan region through watershed conservation, water sanitation, sustainable agriculture, and other programs; and Kharash Vistarotthan Yojana is working to protect the coastline of Gujarat. In 2012, Sir Ratan Tata Trust joined forces with First Solar on a pilot project to provide safe and clean drinking water and irrigation to rural communi-ties in the state of Uttarakhand.

The key, Tata says, is not what we produce or what we generate for the bottom line. For us, and for me, the important thing is what we leave behind.

In the ever-changing de nition of global businessand global business travelTata is a cutting-edge model of behavior for the BRIC countries, for those doing busi-ness with the BRIC countries, and for those on the outside looking in.

Global Business Travel Editor at Large Peter Greenberg, also travel editor for CBS News, can often be found in Indiawhen hes not in Russia, China, or Brazil.

Global Business Travel23Jason Edwards/Getty

A Tata property, theTaj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai earns high marks from business travelers.

24May | June 2013

BRIC

by Peter GreenbergIllustrations by Mark Stutzman


Here are more numbers: The GDP of these four countrieson a purchasing power parity basisrepresented 23.3 percent of the worlds GDP in 2000. By 2050, the BRIC countries combined are expected to become the biggest, most important economy in the world.

The explosive force behind the BRIC nations is unparalleled. According to the GBTA Foundations Global Business Travel Spending Outlook 20112015 study, growth in business travel spending in the BRIC nations is projected to grow two to three times faster than for so-called developed coun-tries. Indeed, the four nations were grouped together in 2001 by Goldman Sachs because they were growing at 5.5 to 10 percent a year, much higher than Europe, Japan, and the U.S.

Business growth in these countries is much more than BRICs and mortar: Its a middle class surge that is changing the complexion of these countriesand beyond. The Organiza-tion for Economy Cooperation and Develop-

Lets talk big. The nations of Brazil, Russia, India, and China make up 40 percent of the worlds population and more than a quarter of the worlds land area. In todays global economy, that adds up to a slew of business travel opportunity. . . and a whole lot of challenge.

26March | April 2013

ment has estimated that by 2022 Asians could make up two-thirds of the global middle class.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization reported that a record one billion people traveled across an international border in 2012thats one in seven people on the planet. The impact of this on the citizens of the BRIC countries cannot be overestimated. The volume of people traveling within their own countries, across borders, and over oceans is changing the calculus of how, when, and where business is being done.

Within the BRIC nations, particularly China and India, domestic travel has increased. The sprouting up of low-cost carriers, new airports and hotels, and other infrastructure to support business and leisure travel has facilitated the flow of traffic within the nations borders. As a result of increased infrastructure there are moreand growingopportunities for foreign business and the travelers who must conduct it. And more potential obstacles as well.

Travel planning for trips to the BRIC four remains challenging. Language barriers, transportation glitches, visa requirements, cultural customs. . .all of these fac-tors routinely present significant issues. What does the travel planner need to know to successfully navigate these ever-evolving business landscapes? Read on.

BrazilIn 2011, the Forbes Billionaire List showed that, for the first time, the number of billionaires in leading emerg-ing economies surpassed the number of those in Europe. But by 2012, the numbers had dropped, and of the four nations, only Brazil grew in this arena with six new bil-lionaires, making a total of 36.

Starting in 2000, Brazilian business travel spending grew an average of 8 percent a year. The Global Business Travel Association BTI Outlook predicts that number will reach 14.3 percent in 2013to $34.5 billion. This would put Brazil on track to overtake Italy, France, and the UK in terms of business travel global rankings.

In addition, leisure travel to Brazil is destined to increase with the upcoming World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in 2016. No surprise that demand has increased for hotel rooms and air travel. A strong econ-omy is a major factor, of course, but theres a cultural component, too.

In Latin America, we like to be in front of our part-ners, to build a trusted relationship, explains Fernando Marcomini, Radius Travels Director of Sales and Cli-

ent Relations for Latin America. Web conferences and conference calls are useful up to a point. Then its very important to have that meeting in person and look someone in the eye.

As nations anticipate the growth of BRIC traveler traf c, the most important piece of the puzzle is trans-portation. American Airlines, for example, now ies to seven Brazilian cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and So Paulo.

This is Americans sweet spot, CEO Tom Horton has said. It is all very pro table, high-yield business travel.

Three major U.S. carriers are vying for the rights to add routes into So Paulo. Based on an agreement between the U.S. and Brazilian governments, carriers will be able to add 14 more ights to the Brazilian capital in 2013 and 2014, ultimately ending in a full Open Skies Agreement by sometime in 2015. While the agreement only allows 14 additional ights, Delta, US Airways, and American have already led for a total of 28 ights.

Within Brazil, agencies have the tools to access all the available airline content, whether its through the GDS, web, or another portal, but accessing hotel content is another story.

While major hotel chains may be found in the GDS, most Brazilian-owned hotels, especially in the northern and southern parts of the country, are not. Instead, they are available through CMNet, a Brazilian hotel-booking engine.

Radius Travels Marcomini strongly recommends that travel managers work with a local agency or interna-tional travel manager.

We have issues regarding content in the GDS, Marcomini says. To arrive at better negotiations with local providers and domestic carriers, its very impor-tant to exchange information with someone here in Brazil.

For the international traveler, having a contact or intermediary on the groundone who speaks both Portuguese and Englishis crucial to getting around ef ciently and safely. . .even if that involves just getting out of the airport.

Indeed, the city of So Paulo is the home to two of the busiest airports in South America: Congonhas and the Governador Andr Franco Montoro International Airport (or Guarulhos International Airport, formerly called Cumbica), which is extremely congested and dif- cult to navigate. A third terminal under construction should be completed in 2014in time for the World


Cup. Also in the works: a new airport hotel and airport bus terminal.

When it comes to helping their travelers navigate Bra-zils busy airports, planners are well advised to seek in-country support. Local experts can bypass the long lines through pre-check-in or move clients up to premier check-in and have a car waiting (battling the crowds for a taxi is no ones idea of a good time).

Traf c in So Paolo is a nightmare. Local traf c engi-neers once notoriously reported that on a bad Friday afternoon a traf c jam could extend some 112 miles. While city of cials are scrambling to connect Con-gonhas by monorail, its unlikely the project will be completed in time for the World Cup.

Also important to keep in mind: Security in Brazil continues to be a concern.

There are places in So Paolo and Rio de Janeiro where you have to be very careful, says Marcomini. A guide can be extremely helpful, he says, for the built-in security and practical knowledge of the area. But in general business practice, its most important to have at least one strong contact on the ground, someone who can tell you whereand, more important, where notto go. Marcomini also recommends relying on hotel con-cierges to secure cabs.

The process for getting a visa for travel to Brazil has become much easier in the past two years, though quirks remain. Travel managers are well advised to be up to speed on the latest requirements as far in advance as possible. Brazil is a reciprocity country, so while citi-zens of EU countries do not need visas for short-term travel, business or leisure, travelers from the U.S., Can-ada, China, and Japan do. For travelers from the United States, the rules vary: Connecticut and Rhode Island residents must have a notarized letter of authorization; Houston residents must present a notarized proof of residence, such as a drivers license, utility bill, or bank statement.

For any business visa, a notarized letter of invitation is required from the sponsoring company, but if youre applying from Atlanta, that letter must be in Portuguese. Applying from Chicago? The consul may require a spon-sor letter thats notarized in Brazil. Applications must be done in person, by appointmentone appointment per visaand payment must be in the form of a U.S. Postal Service money order for the exact amount. Those travel-ers heading to Brazil from Canada must have a letter on company letterhead that must clearly state that there will be no technical work or assistance, since that requires a different visa altogether.

Doing business in Brazil Circumventing the rules is common business practice throughout the country, as is charm.

From the moment you start working with

Brazilians, theyre aff ectionate, brilliant, in the

moment, says Terri Morrison, co-author of Kiss,

Bow, or Shake Hands, a useful guide to conduct-

ing business in more than 60 countries. Theres a

term in Portuguese, jeitinho, which means a little

sidestep.

Actually getting down to business is often a circuitous proposition that can involve an indirect

route, with lots of socializing, late dinners, and

non-business conversation.

We like to be together, we like to be in contact,

says Radius Travels Marcomini. Be ready to talk,

to learn, to pitch. . .we have open arms to receive

travelers and do business.

Top biz cities/populationsBrasilia/2,208,000

Manaus/1,406,000

Rio de Janeiro/5,858,000

So Paulo/10,435,000

Fast factNearly 8 out of 10 Brazilians live in cities.


RussiaIn the rst 15 years of international hotel presence in Russia, about 7,500 rooms entered the market. By Febru-ary 2013, the number was 20,866. Much of the growth has been focused on Moscow and St. Petersburg, but the second-tier cities are beginning to see a growth spurt. In 2014, Hilton Garden Inn hotels, for example, are sched-uled to open in Kaluga, Kirov, and Krasnoyarsk. And Star-wood plans to nearly double its portfolio in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States with 11 new hotels in the next four years in cities that include Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Kaluga, and Perm.

International air service has increased, although Aero- ot is still the only airline to provide nonstop service to Moscow. EasyJet launched a route from Gatwick, Air China is now ying from Beijing daily, and Emirates has increased its capacity from its Dubai hub.

Five years ago that was something very exotic for cor-porate management philosophy, says Stanislav Kostyash-kin, CEO of the Moscow-based Continent Express. Now having a corporate travel policy is a must.

Like the other BRIC nations, when booking basic point-to-point travelsay ying Los Angeles to Moscow and stay-ing in a Ritz-Carlton or Courtyard by Marriottan agent can get access to most of the same inventory and rates. The bulk of international hotel brands, some say as much as 75 percent, is in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Travelport reports that its bookings in Russia alone have grown more than 50 percent as a result of recent deals, including Aero Club, Russias leading travel management company.

But for domestic travel, local hotels, and air or rail travel, it is best to get in touch with a local agency. Only about 30 percent of the airlines operating in Russia are in the GDS, and travel planners can only expect to access 5 to 10 per-cent of hotels through the GDS.

The hotel business is very pragmatic in Russia, with non-chain properties and special rates. It makes the work-load of the agent more intensive, says Kostyashkin.

Kostyashkin points to a particular trick in Russian cul-ture that many business travel planners may not even think of: paying cash. When travel planners book, they either want to pay with a corporate credit card or by bank trans-fer, he says. But those single-standing properties have special rates for those with cash in hand.

The logistics of getting to Russia have become a bit sim-pler in recent years. A new visa agreement between the United States and Russia, for example, went into effect last year that eases restrictions. Visas now last for three years,

Doing business in Russia Be prepared for a fair amount of direct, almost aggressive behavior. Negotiating may be a long

process because compromise, or a win-win situa-

tion, is considered a weakness, but a high-pressure

pitch is considered rude.

Always arrive on time for meetings and social engagements, but be aware that you may be kept

waiting by your host.

If you can, order a set of business cards with the information in Russian on one side and

exchange cards with the Russian side up.

The biggest lesson I learned doing business in Russia is that a Russian needs to see you face

to face so that he or she can make sure you can

be trusted, says Paul Tilstone, GBTAs Senior Vice

President of Global Operations, who launched a

GBTA Russia chapter earlier this year.

Top biz cities/populationsKhabarovsk/584,000

Krasnodar/647,000

Moscow/10,127,000

St. Petersburg/4,662,000

Fast factRussia spans 11 time zones.


with multiple entries and stays of up to six months. The basic visa application can be completely lled out online at visa.kdmid.ru, and supporting documents are what you might expect: photo, valid passport, and money order or certi ed bank check. But all required documents must be submitted to the diplomatic representative authority. A business visa, on the other hand, requires an invitation from the Russian host company that has been authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, something a visa pro-cessing service can obtain. As of the beginning of 2013, the government even dropped its processing fees for three-year multiple-entry non-urgent Russian visas from $180 to $160.

The BRIC nations themselves are even easing restric-tions among themselves. In 2008, Russia and Brazil agreed on a visa-free travel agreement to spur tourism and closer ties. Under this agreement, neither Brazilian nor Russian tourists are required to have visas for entry, exit, or transit in each others territories for stays of up to 90 days within a six-month period.

IndiaWith an economy growing at about 6 percent a year, a rapidly expanding middle class, and the almost overnight transformation of a place like Bangalore from a sleepy vil-lage to a booming Silicon Valleyesque hub, India is clearly on the move. The economic liberalization began in 1991, generating a greater reliance on market forces, a larger role for the private sector, and a structuring of the governments rolethereby opening up the Indian economy to the world.

The airlines are a case in point. Before deregulation in 1986, there were two options: Indian Airlines for domestic travel, and Air India for international travel. Though sev-eral competitors launched and mostly failed in post-regu-lation times, a proliferation of low-cost carriers has risen in their wake. Today we have SpiceJet, GoAir, IndiGo, and Air India Express, among others.

Corporate travel is driven by the growth of meeting spaces around India: The Ashok in New Delhi, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Le Mridien Kochi, and other centers in Rajasthan, Kerala, and Mumbai. This has spurred convention organizers to look at India as a poten-tial convention destination, says John Nair, Vice President of Business Travel for Cox & Kings Ltd.

But even with all that growth, doing business in India can be a mine eld of complications. Indian bureaucracy remains a complex, slow-moving organism involving lay-ers of red tape and too many levels of employees.

Doing business in India Indian Standard Time is a real thing, not just a concept, so dont expect events or din-

ners to start when invitations say they will.

Dont be overly frustrated if someone doesnt

show up on time, says Geeta Jain, Chief Execu-

tive Officer of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, India.

Though this is shifting somewhat when it comes

to business events.

Expect to be served tea and snacks frequently, and if you refuse, they will be off ered again and

again until you accept.

Compared, say, to Japan and Singapore, India is relatively informal when it comes to business

etiquettebut only up to a point. When it comes

to transacting business, people remain very con-

scious of their titles and hierarchy. They dont like

to be taken too casually, says Jain.

Top biz cities/populationsBangalore/4,293,000

Chennai/4,217,000

Delhi/16,753,000

Mumbai/11,915,000

Fast factThe game of chess was invented in India.


You absolutely need to connect with a local provider on the ground, says Radius Travels Roger Pfund. For instance, you need someone who knows never to host a conference in November during Diwali [Indias most important holiday].

As with the other BRIC nations, getting basic air and hotel content in the rst-tier cities generally isnt an issue. Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore have their inventory on the GDS. But for second-tier cities such Hyderabad, you have to rely on the local sector to make arrangements and be sure to see them through. For example, cabs are widely available at the airport, but its more ef cient to hire a car and driverand going through an agency partner can be a lot more cost effec-tive than going through a hotel.

Securing visas for travel to India has become somewhat easier in recent years, particularly for American travel-ers. Still, India lags behind many other countries when it comes to the visa process.

We need to make it easier for travelers to enter India. Its a key priority, says David Scowsill, President of the World Travel and Tourism Council. India should work to allow for a system for obtaining visas on arrival and to make the visa process electronic. Otherwise, business trav-elers will continue to face unnecessary obstacles in getting into the country.

For American business travelers, getting a visa can take as long as a month. For citizens of other countries, the wait can be considerably longer. Clearly this puts a damper on the countrys economic growth. In 2012, travel and tour-isms contribution to Indias GDP was 7 percent; this num-ber is expected to grow at a rate higher than the Indian economy as a wholeand could go even higher if entry were easier.

All U.S. visa applications to India go through Travisa Outsourcing, which has of ces in Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Forms must be lled out online and sent by FedEx, UPS, or registered mail to the appropriate of ce, or they can be brought into a local of ce in person. U.S. citizens may also be required to include contact information for the Indian company with which theyre doing businessor a letter of invitation from the host company or individual.

Chinese business travelers going to India have a more complex process: They must ll out their visa applica-tions online and provide an invitation letter from a recog-nized Indian company, a certi cate of incorporation of the Indian company, a dispatch letter from the Chinese appli-cants company (including the applicants annual income), and the Chinese applicants business license in English.

Coming from the UK? A business visa will require an original signed letter from the UK company and a letter of invitation from the Indian company.

ChinaWhile Chinas economy and growth rate have slowed somewhat in the past year, GBTA forecasts that if current growth rates continue, China will beat out the U.S. in the business travel market by 2015. Business travel spending in China could reach as much as $245 billion in 2013, com-pared to $233 billion in the U.S. And theres something else at play. Chinas middle class is poised to become a global phe-nomenon. Talk about business opportunities: Chinas con-sumption, largely driven by the middle class, is projected to account for $6.2 trillionjust under a quarter of the $26 trillion of global consumptionin the years up to 2025, according to McKinsey & Company. This adds up to more than the three other BRIC coun-tries combined. What this means is that travelboth domestic and inter-nationalis now accessible to a much wider audience. That, in turn, is generating a strong infrastructure. And for corporate travel and meeting planners around the globe, thats a gold mine.

In China, that infrastructure is all about weapons of mass. . .construction. The country is in the midst of build-ing 70 new airports and expanding 101 existing ones, bringing its total number of airports to 230, up from 182. Beijing has begun constructing a second, $11.2 billion mega-airport that will have seven runways and a projected 70 million passengers a year by 2025.

By the end of 2013, Beijing Capital International Airport is expected to overtake Atlantas Harts eld-Jackson asthe busiest passenger airport in the world. And the Chinese will have no problem talking about it: China has now overtaken the U.S. as the worlds largest smartphone market.

Chinas big-three airlinesAir China, China Eastern, and China Southernservice most of the international routes and a signi cant portion of domestic routes.

There has also been signi cant growth through alliances among Delta, China Southern, and China Eastern, as well as United and Air China.

Some airlines, including British Airways, Finnair, and Qatar, are focusing on secondary cities such as Chengdu and Xian. Additional signs of growth: China Eastern resumed service between Shanghai and San Francisco after a 13-year hiatus, and Air China is likely to open


BeijingHouston service in 2013, with connections into Latin America.

The rise of low-cost carriers Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines shows that there is even more space for growth in Chinas regulated air industry. International hotels are also proliferating. According to an IBISWorlds Hotels report, the hotel industry in China has grown an average of 6.9 percent in the past ve years.

When you consider where China was just 30 years ago, the picture is staggering. The hotel industry only began to grow after diplomatic relations were established between the U.S. and China in 1979, which opened the oodgates to economic liberalization. Back then there were a mere 137 hotels in all of China, mostly state-run operations.

According to a report issued by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), its estimated that China will have 6.1 million hotel rooms by 2025, reaching parity with the United States.

In the 1980s, IHG was the rst multinational hotel group to make a concerted effort to grow its brand within China. Today, the nations high-end market boasts a ros-ter of impressive international brands: Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Accor, Wyndham, Four Seasons, Kempin-ski. Over the past two decades, those international brands have taken over the longstanding domination of luxury brands such as Peninsula, Jin Jiang, and Shangri-La. Hil-ton Worldwide, for one, is planning to quadruple its prop-erties in China to 100 hotels by 2014, making the nation its second largest market after the U.S.

China is also Starwoods second largest market after North America, with 23 new hotels in 2012 alone. After rapid- re openings in Ningbo, Sanya, Yangzhou, and Xian last year, Starwood announced its 100th operating hotel in China.

About 70 percent of our hotel openings in Asia this year are in China, says Simon Turner, President of Global Development for Starwood.

Economy and budget hotels are mostly domestic brands. And therein lies the problem for travel planners: Not all of that hotel and airline content is readily available to plan-ners outside Asia.

If youre looking for an international hotel in a rst-tier city, you can get a fair rate based on your preferred hotel partner, says Steven Smith, Senior Director, Meetings & Events Asia Paci c for Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT).

But if you want to look at anything beyond the famous tier of hotel partners, doing ground logistics without a local partner means taking an unnecessary risk, Smith continues.

If the task is to coordinate travel to a second- or third-

Doing business in China Be mindful that business card exchanges take place at the beginning of a meeting.

If possible, information should be in Chinese.

Present that side facing up, using both hands.

After receiving a card, be sure to read it before

putting it away.

Give gifts only if you know the ropes. Gift giving in China is fraught with complications.

While its a big part of the culture, its technically

prohibited at any type of offi cial event. Why?

The Chinese government is cracking down on

anything that smells of corruption. Luxury items

like high-end watches and spirits are falling out

of favor; a bottle of wine will do just ne.

Develop a taste for baiju (Chinese distilled liquor). There is lots of toasting with this spirit

at those long, elaborate banquets.

Top biz cities/populationsBeijing/6,998,000

Ghangzhou/12,780,000

Hangzhou/1,100,000

Shanghai/16,408,000

Fast factThe Chinese were the rst to use natural gas as fuel.


tier city, engaging the services of a multinational corporate travel manager makes sense.

The reality is a lot of Asian hotels are out of the GDS, says Roger Pfund, Radius Travels General Manager, Cor-porate Sales and Client Services, Asia Paci c.

In Asia, outside of the Marriotts of the world, you deal directly with wholesalers, he says.

In addition, Pfund reports that the largest travel agency

in China, Ctrip, controls much of the market share. They have thousands of hotels on their own platform.

No one else can offer that content. Radius is partnered with Ctrip, which added corporate travel planning to its portfolio.

However, Pfund cautions, I would not encourage any travel planner to work with a Chinese agency unless theres an established relationship.

CWTs Steven Smith agrees. We usually recommend a local presence. You want to have regional experts with the ability and experience to liaise with foreign clients. If you employ someone who has a history of working with local suppliers for many years, the risk element is signi -cantly reduced.

Not surprising given the booming economic climate, getting to China has never been easier. For starters, the visa process has been streamlined. The application form is now available online, and the document requirements have been simpli ed. The entire process can take as little as four days.

For business travelers, visas are not a big issue now, compared to several years ago, says Albert Zhong,General Manager of China Management Servies, a joint venture between China Air Services and CWT.

Registered companies in China can simply issue let-ters of invitation on their corporate letterhead, Zhong explains.

Similarly, the process of getting Chinese (and other foreign) business travelers into the U.S. has become remarkably straightforward. In 2011, the Obama adminis-tration addressed the huge business travel de cit. By executive order, it required the State Department to ease travel restrictions in an effort to increase inbound business travel.

It was something we really had to do, says Thomas Nides, former Deputy Secretary of State for Manage-ment and Resources. Under Nidess direction, dozens of consular affairs of cers were quickly reassigned to U.S. embassies and consulates in the BRIC countries to beef up staf ng to speed up the visa process, with special con-sideration given to business travelers.

So, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for an invariable rise in corporate business travel to China. Every company in the world now needs a well de ned business strategy to reach the Chinese middle class.

GBTA projected compound annual growth in business spend, 20112015China11.2 percent UK5.4 percent

India10.8 percent U.S.3.8 percent

Russia7.1 percent France3.3 percent

Brazil7.0 percent Germany2.9 percent

Travel to the U.S. from the BRIC nations The U.S. government has estimated that 68 percent average annual growth in travel

and tourism can be expected over the next

ve years. The largest growth percentages will

come from China at 232 percent, followed by

Brazil at 150 percent, the Russian Federation

at 139 percent, and India at 94 percent. And

the big, sleeping business travel giant: South

Korea, where travel will grow 200 percent.

Despite having a sparser population and a less robust economy than the other BRIC

nations, Russian outbound travel is the high-

est of all: In 2011, Russians took 1.3 times as

many trips as the Chinese, 3.4 times as many

as Indians, and 4.6 times as many as Brazil-

ians. The number of international trips in 2011

was approximately 23.8 million for Russia, 18.3

million for China (not including travel to Hong

Kong and Macau), 7 million for India, and 2.8

million for Brazil.Global Business Travel Editor at Large Peter Greenberg roams

the world as the travel editor for CBS News and carries mul-

tiple entry visas to all four BRIC countries.

2X THE GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE OF AMERICAN EXPRESS.*

*The Nilson Report, February 2012. MasterCard, Priceless, and the MasterCard Brand Mark are registered trademarks of MasterCard International Incorporated. 2013 MasterCard. American Express is a registered trademark of the American Express Company.

mastercard.com/acceptance

American or JAL, both airlines companywide have been working to make booking online and checking in identical, Jim Faulkner, a spokesman for American Airlines, said of the arrangement to coordinate pricing, routes, and sched-ules with JAL. Now they were going another step. Weve tried to look at areas to make the service more consistent.

Flight attendants must be aware of what their move-ments signal to airline customers, said Masanori Kambe, who directs JALs in ight service.

We want to communicate that You are the person I

TOKYO It takes two hands to be polite in Japan because if you use just one to give or receive thingsfood, coats, chopsticks, even business cardsit is considered rude. First-time visitors may be forgiven for their cultural ignorance, but corporate decision makers need to know better.

So when American Airlines boss Tom Horton and Japan Airlines Chairman Mas-aru Onishi announced the beginning of a joint operating alliance not too long ago, Horton made it clear he was going to be looking to JAL for help. JAL had a lot to offer in the customer service realm; Horton resolved to learn how to prevent the sort of cultural gaffe that could offend passengers.

Within a few months the two airlines had formed a committee to work toward that goal. And then something unexpected hap-pened: JAL decided it might also bene t from constructive criticism.

Employees started taking each others flights, zipping back and forth between Tokyo and Dallas, making notes and sometimes even snapping photos. They shared with each other what they had learned about service at 30,000 feet.

Americans ight attendants were distributing Japa-nese newspapers upside down, JALs observers said, and that big mound of rice on the meal tray was unappetizing. Americans committee members countered that JAL ight attendants were too reserved and that public announce-ments werent even close to conversational English.

In trying to make the airlines more like each other, Hor-ton had inadvertently launched both companies on a mis-sion of self-improvement.

serhow do you say

The Asahi Shimbun/Getty34May | June 2013

The world may well be a melting pot, but that doesnt mean one size ts all when it comes to treating people right in ight.

want to serve. . .this is from me for you. This is the basic way of thought.

The airlines with the best reputations for in ight service provide training in nonverbal communication and physi-cal comportment. At JAL, trainees not only get instruction on the proper way to carry out such seemingly trivial tasks as returning coats to passengers, their performance is also videotaped and reviewed.

It is of great importance, and we keep it in the forefront of our minds that there are cultural differences, said Jay

Logan, a base manager of ight atten-dants and a former manager of training for American. JAL, for example, taught the Americans that sometimes little things like presenting that newspaper right side up and with both hands can mean a lot to the passenger.

But the differences between Asian and American service are about much more than simply whether the chopsticks are delivered with one hand or two, some-thing that was was eye-opening for the JAL trainers who viewed Americans strength in cabin service as being rooted in personality characteristics that are identi ably American.

They are strong at friendly service and conversation, Kambe said. These are behaviors he wanted to see on his own air-planes. We can teach, and they can learn. Japanese people are good about studying. Yes, they can memorize the process and master the skills, but we want them to touch the naked heart of the customers.

The Japanese as you know are huge when it comes to presentation. Every-thing you observe is more of a silent pre-sentation, Logan said.

It is done beautifully, but there is no real verbal communication with the pas-senger.

For all the enviable tradition infus-ing the JAL mindset, the airline has new realities. When it led for bankruptcy in

2010, JAL was 25 billion dollars in debt. Saving the airline required cutting one-third of the workforce.

This is key, according to Kambe, to understanding the identity of the airline today. That was an unfortunate expe-rience, but it was the luckiest experience we could have, he said. People left the company to save it, he explained, and those who remained realized they would become the new airline.

Everybody who is working at JAL chose to stay at JAL, and they are responsible now. They know they need

vicein japanese?


by Christine Negroni

to bring the stones to bring up the building. Small stone, big stone, ne.

This demonstrates another difference between JAL and American, which led for bankruptcy in 2012. While JALs workers pulled together during the crisis, Ameri-can and its workers have been arguing, often in front of passengers. Perhaps JALs workers are grouchy behind the scenes, but in the presence of the customer they offer smiling faces because, as Kambe explained, it still is all about the customer. The customer is the main person on the stage, and we are the backstage, he said.

As commercial aviation evolves, airlines are increasingly lining up behind one of three identities: low-cost carriers where passengers pay little and get little; single-service airlines with discounted fares and some perks like advance seating; and, nally, full-service airlines like American and JAL that are chasing that most valuable customer: the premium-class traveler who will pay what it takes for com-fortable seats and, thats right, excellent service.

Christine Negroni writes about aviation and travel for numer-

ous publications.

JAL is not alone in recognizing the importance of comportment for their cabin attendants. At Singapore Airlines, new hires who presumably already know how to walk are taught this skill during ve months of training. Rec-ognizing that on a long ightand many of Singapores ights are very longpassengers want to sleep, ight attendants learn how to move through the cabin without disrupting slumber-ing passengers, said James Boyd, a spokesman for the airline. For those passengers who are awake and may want something, the cabin attendant must circle through the airplane a set number of times and make eye contact with as many passengers as possible. People are reluctant to push the ight attendant call button when they need something, Boyd said. Eliminat-ing that small hurdle is what he calls a proactive standard of service because it anticipates the travelers needs.

Taking a cue from Singapore Airlines and its 40-year-old publicity cam-paign to promote the onboard service of its Singapore Girls, Emirates has invested heavily in crafting a similar corporate identity. As a result, the behavior of Emirates ight attendants is well scripted; practically every action performed on and off the airplane is choreographed. Next time you are at an airport into which Emirates ies, notice that the entire ight crew, pilots, and two dozen ight attendants will walk through the airport together, like in that

scene from the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can, where Leonardo DeCaprio playing a pilot imposter struts through the airport surrounded by beautiful stewardesses.

Intrigued by what makes an air-line obsess on these kinds of tiny details, last year I spent a week as a ight attendant trainee at Emirates headquarters in Dubai. It took the full seven days just to learn all the rules that would apply to the six-week train-ing course. Policies are quite strictwomen, for example, are not allowed to wear their hair loose even on the bus to and from their classes. The ight attendants image is of the utmost sig-ni cance, Terry Daly told me after my week was over. By then, the Emirates Senior Vice President hardly needed to explain that the faces that greet board-ing passengers are the face of the company and it is what we are judged

on more than anything else. It is the ight attendant who can make the dif-ference between having a good ight and a brilliant ight.

Service encompasses many things including how well polished are ones shoes. The physical appearance of the cabin staff is given great value at many Eastern carriers.

Singapores ight attendants are issued personally tailored sarong-type uniforms designed in 1972 by French designer Pierre Balmain. The proud mother of one new Singapore steward-ess bragged to me that her daughter was told if the uniform should ever become too snug, the young woman should not bother going to work.

If standards arent strict, what you get is a lack of consistency, reducing the chances of getting a polished look in the workforce, said Helen Rox-burgh, Training Manager at Emirates,

whose cabin staff represents 130 countries. Aydin zdemir, a Turkish Airlines training specialist, is tak-ing note.

We will wel-come our pas-sengers and meet their cultural expectations by hiring locals from their countries, he said.

Blaine Harrington III/Corbis36May | June 2013

Inflight Culture: Singapore and Emirates

Emirates cabin crew

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The opportunity to visit Russia came during the summer of my sophomore year of high school. Russia was then the focal point of a foreboding neme-sis, the Soviet Union, locked in a polit-ical and economic cold war with the United States and its Western Euro-pean allies. Trade was limited and travel was heavily restricted. Later, in the early 1970s, when I worked for Pan Am, India was one of my required stops. Still struggling to nd its identity, India didnt seem destined to become a major player in the world economy. It was June 1985 when I made my rst of cial foray into Latin America. At that time, I knew embar-rassingly little about the business travel market there, never guessing that the regionled by power-house Brazilwas on the verge of exploding onto the global economic and travel scenes. Long viewed as a slowly growing, somewhat back-ward manufacturing location and potential tourism des-tination, China entered my business travel portfolio in the early 1990s.

Today these same areas are poised to direct and lead the world. China is proving to be the worlds new nan-cial and international business cen-ter. Russia is becoming entrenched as a leader in oil and gas production and export. India and Brazil are stepping

A Firm Grip on BRICop/ed by Kevin Maguire

Helping GBTA members navigate expanding business environments.up as manufacturing and product-development centers.

As their economies strengthen and in uences expand, the volume and complexity of business travel to, from, and within these countries will con-tinue to grow. Indeed, what once were barely tested markets for nance, manufacturing, technology, and more are now changing the shape of the world economic footprint. We are

seeing numer-ous incen-tive attractive opportunities for foreign business invest-mentand the subsequent

requirement to expand travel services to meet a growing demand for goods and services.

And what does this mean for the global business travel scene? At its present rate of growth, by 2015 China likely will overtake the United States as the number one business travel destination. No wonder airline manufacturing compa-nies continue to set their sights on the expanding eet needs in the China/Asia market. Latin America also is a major market for new aircraft orders as well

as oil and gas production equipment. Indias global business in uence con-tinues to expand and that countrys economy is only a few short years away from leaping into the fourth or fth slot on the economy list.

So it is not surprising that the soothsayers have the world economy revolving around the continued suc-cess and growth of the BRIC coun-

tries. That said, these areas face challenges. The world economy is struggling, and the BRIC countries are not exempt from the repercus-sions. The GNP rates in China and India, for instance, already have slipped below analysts expectations. Yet as the worlds economic base sta-bilizes and growth resumes, these countries should again show them-selves as major players.

As business travelers follow the sources of potential growth, GBTA sets the stage by guiding and sup-porting travel planners. We are tak-ing the travel industry lead in helping global companies and the worlds new economies learn the best meth-ods for working together to forge effective managed travel programs. Our business networking capabilities and options for learning add immea-surably to the critical sharing of best practices and new ideas. GBTA has sponsored sold-out Oil & Gas Sympo-siums in Brazil, Europe, Russia, and the United States. The most recent annual conference for GBTA Mexico had the largest attendance ever; the rst GBTA Latin America confer-ence in Argentina was an absolute success with more than 400 attend-ees; and the initial GBTA Asia con-ference topped the 200-registrant level. New programs are scheduled for Brazil and India. Some 20 GBTA educational or industry certi cation programs are either planned or have been completed in these regions.

Bottom line: GBTA is there.

The Global Business Travel Associations President and CEO Kevin Maguire is the Director of Travel for Intercollegiate Ath-letics at the University of Texas at Austin.

38May | June 2013

RIC

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Online Training Interactive skill-building in 90 minutes.

Webinars Best practices and trends in 60 minutes.

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Endless Summerbest practices by Laurie Werner

Rede ning time off in todays hyperconnected world.Imagine youre interviewing for a job at ARC, the travel product transaction processing company, and when you ask about their vacation policy, the answer is take whatever you want? If that interview took place sometime after the rst of January, that is exactly what you would have heard.

ARC CEO Mike Premo had been looking for a way to make vacation policy more exible as part of a six-year plan to change the culture of the company. Midway through 2012, he announced that come 2013, staff-ers could take time off as they saw t, doing work along the way.

It was a plan borne out of frustra-tion with the traditional ways.

Accrued vacation time was a head-ache for us, says Premo. Under fed-eral law, we had to allow employees to carry over three weeks of vacation time to the next year, and we had to have the right amount of money on our books to cover thatabout half a million dollars a year. Plus, if there were more than ve weeks accrued, a staffer would have to take a month off at the end of the year (putting the manager in a tough spot when he or she had to say no) or simply lose it. And thats a morale buster.

Under ARCs very new plan, says Premo, We ask employees to be exible, to answer email through-out the day, to be sure to regularly check in with the of ce when theyre away.

While investigating the possible vacation-policy change, Premo

looked around and found that compa-nies such as Adobe and Motley Fool had take-what-you-need policies. Its about 1 percent of all compa-nies. . .greater than zero, is how he explained it to his somewhat traditional airline industry personnel board.

But not all employ-ees immediately warmed to the idea.

The longer tenured folks had the most dif cult time with it, says Premo. They feel theyve earned vaca-tion time off, so why should someone just coming in be entitled to the same amount of time off? So were still discussing how to rec-ognize service in different ways.

Time off is not fully elastic, however. Any requests over six weeks have to be

approved by HR; some long stints have already been approved for

expats from China, India, and Pakistan for long-delayed trips home.

Premo expects some of the companys 60 moderate-to-heavy business travelers

to add on to business trips if its a great destination, in the same way they did with the previous policy. Ninety percent of ARC biz travel is domestic, with a T&E spend of $1.5-$2 million a year.

If Premos program evolves in the same man-ner as Motley Fools (whose executives he

spoke with along the way), overuse wont be a concern.

Some people have taken a few months for family situations. I took two weeks to go to Ireland with my fam-

ily, got caught by the volcano in 2010, and was gone a month.

But I knew it wouldnt be a big deal, says

Sam Moore Cicotello, Motley Fools Chief Learning Of cer. As long as you get your work done, it really doesnt matter.

In fact, to counter-act some employees

tendency not to take vacation, Motley Fool

began a monthly Fools Errand drawing in which the

winner gets $1,000 and two weeks paid vacationwith the order to take it within a month (to help ensure that MF isnt short-staffed at any given time). And we ask them not to check in with the of ce while theyre gone, says Cicotello. Some might be sneak-ing emails, but generally they take the no-contact request pretty seriously.

Were seeing increased produc-tivity and morale, she says. And a record low turnoverless than 2 percent. People sometimes leave to start their own businesses or because they have to move away. But they dont leave for other jobs.

Travel writer

Laurie Werner has

mastered the art

of successfully

blurring work

and play.

Scan and Share

Illustration: garywg/iStockphoto, Photograph: Courtesy/ARC40May | June 2013

Accrued vacation

time was a headache

for us, says ARC CEO

Mike Premo.

How would you describe China today?Very diff erent from 25 years ago. Today it is a powerful, increasingly sophisticated country. Now you must travel farther a eld to expe-rience its more traditional character.

What does every travel planner need to understand about China? China is hugeits a physical kaleidoscope of images and landmarks. Every traveler should go beyond Beijing and Shanghai to discover a more authentic China. One thing I know: China is not a one-time destina-tion. Travelers will want to return to appreciate its diversity. And it is great for year-round travel.

Your top three destinations in China?1. Xian: for its history, including the

Terra-Cotta Warriors & Horses Exca-vation Site.

2. Yunnan Province: for its diversity, minority cultures and physical land-scapes.

3. Gansu Province: the ancient Silk Road in northwest China where the Gobi Desert meets the mountains and the ancient worlds greatest philosophical in uences convened.

Beside the requisite passport and

the last word Reported by Becca Hensley

Knowing ChinaCanadian by birth, Gerald Hatherly was nudged as a child into an obsession with China when he read about Marco Polos journey to ancient Cathay. That inspired him to learn Chinese and pursue Asian Studiesand eventually led him to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, he joined the upmarket tour company Abercrombie & Kent in 1986, rst as a tour guide and later as business development director.

as simple as a baseball cap.

Pose for a photo to commemorate the meet-ing or visit.

Business cards are pro-foundly important.

Learn to say hello and thank you in Chinese.

Small talk is important. If the meeting includes a meal, make a toast with tea or alcohol. Just get up to thank your hosts, wish them good health and a good meeting. At the end of the meeting, thank the business guest or client on

Photograph: Carla Tracy for Abercrombie & Kent, Illustratration: Pingebat/iStockphoto42May | June 2013

visas (when required), what do you not leave home without? A map of China and at least three books on China, including a biogra-phy and something on archaeology or anthropology.

What does every business traveler need to know about China?Chinese traditional culture is based on relationships. It is important to show respect and show friendship. In China, the concept of relationship is the foundation for a good business deal.

Tips for sealing a deal? Include a meal. The Chinese love food and social camaraderie.

Bring a gift, ideally something that re ects your home or culture. Could be

th, rst as a tou

tor.

cing

Bfoun

Leathan

behalf of your company.

The Chinese are not direct, so understand that some circuitous dis-cussion needs to take place before getting to the point.

Travel confession?An addiction to Ding Tai Funga dumpling and noodle chain with out-posts throughout Asia.

Shanghi or Beijing? Both. Shanghai for food, art, shopping, and architecture. Beijing for history, as it is the bastion of Chinese intellectual culture.

Becca Hensley writes for more than a

dozen top newspapers and national

magazines.

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global business travel magazine may june 2013

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