ABTA - African Business Travel Association

Is hotel sourcing broken? 🏨

Rising rates. Fragmented content. Negotiated rates getting harder to hold. Direct booking chipping away at managed programmes. Sound familiar?

At ABTA's Annual Conference, we're getting into it: are RFPs still worth it, and what should hotel sourcing actually look like three to five years from now?

Let's talk about it at ABTA's Annual Conference. The programme is taking shape here: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-annual-conference

16 October 2026 | Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

See you there!

Business travel has a heavy footprint, and yes, a big chunk of that is the flights themselves. But there's another factor that's rarely mentioned: traveller behaviour, and the unintentional habits that have a serious impact.

We’ve been digging into exactly that with our global Intentional Traveller Behaviour survey. This webinar shares the early findings; an honest first look at what the data is telling us so far.

Inside ABTA’s Global Intentional Traveller Research. Early Findings and Insights
Thursday, 27 August 2026, 10:00 to 12:00 (SAST / GMT+2), online via Teams.

Keen to join? Register here: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-webinar

ABTA Annual Conference | Connect with the Business Travel Industry

Ask anyone who's been before, and they'll tell you: the sessions are only half the story.

The rest happens in the in-between moments: the chats, the chance introductions, the small talk that turns into something useful. The coffee-queue conversation with a TMC that solves a problem you've been sitting with for months. The buyer two seats over dealing with exactly what you're dealing with. The supplier you finally put a face to after months of email.

This October, travel buyers, TMCs, suppliers and technology partners are all in the same room at Emperors Palace. Come find your people.

16 October 2026 | Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

Register now: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-annual-conference

When we've spoken about risk in corporate travel before, the focus has mostly been on traveller safety. Not anymore. That’s only one piece of the puzzle.

That was the thread running through our latest webinar, The Risk Factor: Protecting Your People, Payments & Profits, for the Kenyan business travel industry.

Thank you to our sponsors, Visa and Kenya Association of Travel Agents, for supporting the session, and to our speakers for unpacking 2026's pressure points: Jessica Trichias and Salome Odhiambo (International SOS) on the MENA conflict and what it means closer to home, Irene Auma (Visa) on strengthening payment security across African travel, and Dr Joseph Kithitu (Hemingways Travel/KATA) on ADMs in the Kenyan environment. Aaron Munetsi (Airlines Association of Southern Africa) also popped in with an update on South Africa's online SARS Traveller Declaration – and what it means for travellers.

Missed it? Recordings are available to ABTA members on request. Please email [email protected].

Not yet a member? Learn more about ABTA here: https://abta.co.za/membership

We're picky about what makes it onto the ABTA stage: sessions that inform, panels that provoke, roundtable topics people are still discussing on the drive home. This year's conference programme is no exception.

It tackles some big questions:

• Travel programme complexity – are we making travel too complicated?
• Getting management buy-in – how do you turn your ideas into reality?
• Top buyer-implemented travel management strategies of 2026 – what's actually working for buyers right now?
• Risk management – from war-time insurance clauses to at-risk traveller safety, are you covered?
• Future-proofing hotel programmes – is hotel sourcing broken?
• The forgotten category – why does ground transportation deserve a seat at the table?
• The missing sustainability link – how intentional are business travellers, really?
..with more to come.

Staying over? Peermont is offering ABTA delegates 29% off BAR room rates at Emperors Palace, so you can settle in and stay a while.

Book your seat here: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-annual-conference

16 October 2026 | Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

Nigeria Webinar | Plug the Leak: Reducing Revenue Loss from ADMs

What a session! 🙌

Thank you to our speakers, Adekunle Oluwole (Jaratrips/Nanta Secretariat), Clara Espinosa Diaz (International Air Transport Association (IATA),Aaron Munetsi (Airlines Association of Southern Africa), Bafana Sithole (Amadeus) and Yinka Folami (NANTA), for unpacking exactly how ADMs happen and how to stop losing revenue to them.

Big talking points: the ADM dispute timeline (two weeks before it hits your billing), why disputes have to go through BSPlink, and a lively debate on whether booking systems should block churning outright – rather than just warn against it.

Missed it? Recordings are available to ABTA members on request. Please email [email protected].

Not yet a member? Learn more about ABTA here: https://abta.co.za/membership

ABTA Annual Conference: 16 October 2026

Say what you like about corporate travel, but nobody can call it boring. NDC, new payment models, duty of care, AI: travel programmes are becoming more complex by the day, and the pace isn't letting up.

That's why this year's conference theme is Corporate Travel Evolution: Navigating Complexity. Driving Change.

One day, one room, and an agenda built around the insights, information and solutions the corporate travel sector demands. Join us.

16 October 2026 | Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

See what's planned: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-annual-conference

ABTA Kenya Webinar | The Risk Factor | 23 July

Risk in corporate travel goes far beyond traveller safety: payment fraud, insurance gaps, geopolitical disruption and ADMs can all hit your bottom line before anyone boards a plane.

Join us for The Risk Factor: Protecting Your People, Payments & Profits, our Kenya Corporate Travel Webinar, where experts from Visa , International SOS and Hemingways Travel share practical strategies to reduce risk, strengthen resilience and protect your travellers and your profits.

📅 23 July 2026
🕙 10.00 – 12.00 (EAT)
💻 Online via Teams

Kenya Association of Travel Agents members and ABTA Premium & Enterprise members attend free of charge.

Last chance bookings close COB today, make sure to book your spot here:https://abta.co.za/member/abta-kenya-webinar

ABTA Nigeria Webinar | Plug the Leak | 21 July

An airline debit memo (ADM) lands in your inbox and just like that, the margin on a booking is gone.

If that feels familiar, join us for Plug the Leak: Reducing Revenue Loss from ADMs, our Nigeria Corporate Travel Webinar unpacking exactly why ADMs are issued, what triggers them and how to prevent them.

Experts from International Air Transport Association (IATA),Nanta Secretariat and CTM Global Partners will cover the ADM framework and dispute process, the airline and TMC perspectives, and a practical tutorial on avoiding the booking errors that cost you most.

📅 21 July 2026
🕙 10.00 – 12.00 (WAT)
💻 Online via Teams

NANTA members and ABTA Premium & Enterprise members attend free of charge.

Book your spot here: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-nigeria-webinar

ABTA Annual Conference: Less than three months to go!

Where has this year gone? It feels like we only just packed away last year's conference, and suddenly we're about 12 weeks away from our most anticipated gathering of the year.

The programme is coming together beautifully, registration fees haven't budged since last year, and while we can’t wait to catch up with industry veterans, we’re also hoping for more first-time attendees than ever!

We know the next few weeks are going to fly by. So, if the ABTA Conference is sitting on your radar, let today be the day you make it official.

Book your seat here: https://abta.co.za/member/abta-annual-conference

16 October 2026 | Emperors Palace