FBTA

Founded in 1984, the Finnish Business Travel Association is an organization for business travel buyers and suppliers, with the mission to enhance the understanding, knowledge and skills required in corporate travel and meetings management as well as procurement.

MDMS

BT4Europe Webinar | Multimodal cross-border travel

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It is with great pleasure that we extend this exclusive invitation to FBTA Members for an insightful webinar on upcoming European legislation, with a special focus on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) and its impact on online booking engines for corporate cross-border business travel across Europe.

? Date: Tuesday 12 March 2024

? Time: 14:00 - 15:00 (CET- Brussels time)

? Virtual Venue:  Teams

Agenda Highlights:

  1. Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS): Explore how MDMS can bring more choices and diverse multimodal content into the online booking engines used by corporations for efficient cross-border business travel.
  2. Main Speaker: We are honored to have MEP Jakop G. Dalunde (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance - Member of the Committee of Transport and Tourism) as our main speaker, sharing valuable insights on business travel. Gain a deep understanding of the EU political agenda and expectations for the future agenda of the European Parliament and the European Commission post the 2024 elections.
  3. Open Discussion: Hear from our experts their views regarding the focus theme of the webinar and their expectations for the future of cross-border business travel in Europe.
  4. Interactive Q&A sessionEngage with our speakers as we allocate time for questions from the online live audience. Your participation is crucial to make this event more dynamic and tailored to your interests.

Register here

 

BT4Europe Webinar | Multimodal cross-border travel

by

It is with great pleasure that we extend this exclusive invitation to FBTA Members for an insightful webinar on upcoming European legislation, with a special focus on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) and its impact on online booking engines for corporate cross-border business travel across Europe.

? Date: Tuesday 12 March 2024

? Time: 14:00 - 15:00 (CET- Brussels time)

? Virtual Venue:  Teams

Agenda Highlights:

  1. Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS): Explore how MDMS can bring more choices and diverse multimodal content into the online booking engines used by corporations for efficient cross-border business travel.
  2. Main Speaker: We are honored to have MEP Jakop G. Dalunde (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance - Member of the Committee of Transport and Tourism) as our main speaker, sharing valuable insights on business travel. Gain a deep understanding of the EU political agenda and expectations for the future agenda of the European Parliament and the European Commission post the 2024 elections.
  3. Open Discussion: Hear from our experts their views regarding the focus theme of the webinar and their expectations for the future of cross-border business travel in Europe.
  4. Interactive Q&A sessionEngage with our speakers as we allocate time for questions from the online live audience. Your participation is crucial to make this event more dynamic and tailored to your interests.

Register here

 

BT4Europe & Co | The MDMS Regulation: Can it make travel easier and greener?

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Join us on Tuesday 10 October for an event hosted by MEP Oetjan and Dalunde to discuss the MDMS Regulation and its potential to make travel easier and greener.

The event will showcase numerous stakeholders across the mobility ecosystem (such as consumers, intermediaries, business travellers and environmental experts) and policymakers supporting the MDMS Regulation.

Join us for discussions on how the MDMS Regulation can:

  • Give Convenience, choice and price transparency to consumers
  • Support the shift to more sustainable travel options and collective travel.
  • Ensure healthy competition and innovation between all transport operators, big or small.

Register now if you plan to be present at the MDMS Meeting in Brussels in person.

Registration link for attending virtually

 

BT4Europe & Co | The MDMS Regulation: Can it make travel easier and greener?

by

Join us on Tuesday 10 October for an event hosted by MEP Oetjan and Dalunde to discuss the MDMS Regulation and its potential to make travel easier and greener.

The event will showcase numerous stakeholders across the mobility ecosystem (such as consumers, intermediaries, business travellers and environmental experts) and policymakers supporting the MDMS Regulation.

Join us for discussions on how the MDMS Regulation can:

  • Give Convenience, choice and price transparency to consumers
  • Support the shift to more sustainable travel options and collective travel.
  • Ensure healthy competition and innovation between all transport operators, big or small.

Register now if you plan to be present at the MDMS Meeting in Brussels in person.

Registration link for attending virtually

 

Onko EU:n MDMS-aloite vesittymässä?

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Ikkunapaikka 15.6.2023:

Euroopan komissiolta on odotettu MDMS-lainsäädäntöehdotusta syksyn aikana. Sen tavoitteena olisi luoda lainsäädäntö koskien MDMS-palveluita ja niitä tarjoavia toimijoita. MDMS-palveluita ovat esim. Mobility as a service/MaaS, lipunmyyntialustat, lippujen välittäjät ja reittisuunnittelijat.

Lainsäädäntöehdotuksen taustalla on se, että MDMS-operaattorit voisivat neutraalissa kauppapaikassa tuoda matkustajien vertailtavaksi eri matkustusvaihtoehtoja ja -hintoja, ja että matkustajat voisivat tehdä myös varauksia neutraalissa kauppapaikassa.

Euroopan komissiosta on kuitenkin kantautunut tietoa, että valmisteilla ollut lakiehdotus on vesittymässä, eikä uudessa esityksessä olisi merkittäviä muutoksia nykyiseen käytäntöön. Pelkkä linkitys kuljetusyhtiöiden verkkosivuille sen sijaan, että järjestelmä mahdollistaisi yhdistetyn varaus- ja lipunmyyntijärjestelmän merkitsisi koko MDMS-aloitteen vesittymistä. Mikäli integroitujen varausten tekeminen riippumattomien jakelukanavien kautta estyisi, määräävässä markkina-asemassa olevien kuljetusyhtiöiden kilpailunvastaiset käytännöt saattaisivat lisääntyä.

Nyt merkittävä joukko matkailualan toimijoita ja järjestöjä, kuten ECTAA (European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association), BT4Europe (European Network of Business Travel Associations), GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) ja BEUC (The European Consumer Organisation) on allekirjoittanut Euroopan komission varapresidentille Frans Timmermansille lähetetyn avoimen kirjeen, jossa vaaditaan pysyttävän alkuperäisessä suunnitelmassa.

”Allekirjoittajat kannustavat EU:ta takaamaan eri kuljetusmuodoille yhdenvertaiset toimintaedellytykset hinnoittelun ja liputuksen suhteen – maiden rajat ylittävä (juna-)liikenne mukaan lukien – luomalla komission multimodaalisen digitaalisen liikkumispalvelun MDMS-aloitteen myötä yhtenäislippujärjestelmä esim. lentojen ja junamatkojen saumattomaksi yhdistämiseksi. Nyt komissio on kuitenkin alentamassa tavoitteitaan niin, ettei lopputulos juurikaan eroa vallitsevasta nykytilanteesta. Jos tavoitteena alun perin oli, että esim. maakunnasta junalla Helsinki-Vantaalle saapuva matkustaja saisi yhdistettyä liityntäjuna- ja lentovarauksensa samalle varaukselle ja dokumentille ja matkaketjusta saumattoman kokonaisuuden, tämä ei enää toteutuisikaan, jos MDMS-hankkeen kunnianhimoisista tavoitteista tingitään”, selventää tilannetta FBTAn toimitusjohtaja Sari Viljamaa.

 

Open letter from European tourism industry organisations to EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans

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BT4Europe, ECTAA, EU Travel Tech, GBTA and other European travel industry associations have published an open letter to European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans on the looming dilution of the MDMS initiative.

Both undersigned consumer and business organisations encourage the EU to guarantee equal operating conditions for different transport modes in terms of pricing and ticketing – including cross-border (train) traffic – by creating a unified ticketing system via the Commission's Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) initiative, for example, for seamless combination of flights and train journeys.

However, the Commission is now lowering its objectives, meaning the outcome will differ little from the current situation. If the original aim was for a passenger arriving from a province by train to Helsinki-Vantaa to be able to combine their connecting train and flight bookings onto a single booking and document, and thus have a seamless travel chain, this would no longer be achieved if the ambitious objectives of the MDMS project are compromised.

An open letter to Vice-President Timmermans is available to read. here.