For Immediate Release!
Ralph Colunga, Global Travel Manager, Cisco Systems Presented with ACTE Global Vision Award
(Alexandria, Virginia, USA, October 21, 2002) -The Association of Corporate Travel Executives named Ralph Colunga, global travel manager for Cisco Systems, Inc., the winner of the 2002 Global Vision Award. This honor is conferred upon association members who have significantly contributed to the globalization of travel management. Colunga's travel program hinges on elements like regional operations that report to a centralized department plus consistent global measurement and communications. It also combines innovative thinking with best practices. Two of the programs objectives were implementing an online booking tool and consolidating to a single GDS worldwide.
The programs results speak for themselves. With online adoption rates running from 65 percent (United States) to 70 percent (United Kingdom), the returns are impressive. Recorded savings of $6.4 million in cost avoidance to the travel budget, a 49 percent reduction in cost-per-travel transaction, and a 13 percent lower average ticket price for tickets booked online. In Britain, cost avoidance savings were $500K, travel transaction costs dropped by 60 percent, and the cost of tickets booked online was reduced by 9 percent.
"Ralph Colunga is the model of a forward thinking travel management professional, with a firm command of best practices and global managerial techniques," said Cheryl Hutchinson, ACTE president. The award presentation was made during the association's Global Conference in Munich.
For more information, contact:
Jack Riepe, ACTE Communications
1-610-256-0124 or [email protected]
Founded in 1988, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is a member-driven organization wholly dedicated to the science of business travel management with an international constituency. ACTE membership totals more than 2,400, including business travel executives in Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the United States. The organization is headquartered in Alexandria, Va., with regional offices located in Brussels, and Singapore. ACTE's web site is www.acte.org.
