LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwire – Dec. 1, 2010) – CT Business Travel is one of the UK’s leading business travel agents, whose Iraq office recently hosted its first trade mission.
CT Business Travel, an expert in corporate travel is the UK’s largest organiser of trade missions, organising and managing up to 3 trade missions every week of the year in varying locations around the world.
CT Business Travel whose headquarters are in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, recently took the bold step of being the first UK travel management company to open an office in Erbil, Iraq. There are a number of reasons why CT Business Travel felt it was so important to have a presence in the country. The opportunities for UK businesses to trade in Iraq are significant, but given the recent war, travelling to and around Iraq is not yet completely safe, and the language poses a major barrier. CT Business Travel therefore identified the need for local representation. With the Erbil office and local staff, CT Business Travel is able to be even more hands on allowing them to support their clients every step of the way.
In October 2010 CT Business Travel’s Iraq office hosted its first trade mission, with a group of 53 people in attendance, representing a diverse range of UK companies wishing to do business in Iraq. Mark Kempster, CT Business Travel’s Managing Director personally headed up the trade mission so he could experience the operation first hand and ensure the trip went smoothly. He said, “To take the first group over to Iraq for our Erbil office to host was incredibly rewarding, especially as the mission was hugely successful. Following the trip, three companies from the original group have booked further trips with us to Iraq in 2011, and one company is already back out in Iraq doing business, which is great news.”
Kempster continued, “The type of businesses who attended the trip varied enormously. There were architects, property developers, oil traders, security companies, businesses that provide generators, re-location companies, businesses involved in education and setting up schools to name just a few. Our trade missions give companies the confidence they need to visit countries like Iraq. Travelling with us they know that their trip will be well organised, safe, and that they will get to meet the decision makers of companies that are relevant to them and that they can potentially do with business with.”
Meetings with Iraqi businesses are typically arranged through local Chambers of Commerce which are organised by CT Business Travel’s local offices. In addition, CT Business Travel can then arrange appropriate places to meet, necessary security, transportation and last but by no means least, translators.
For further information about CT Business Travel’s trade missions please visit www.ctbusinesstravel.co.uk.