Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the global travel management company, has won the coveted “Africa's Leading Business Travel Agency 2017” award at the prestigious World Travel Awards Africa Gala Ceremony, in Kigali, Rwanda.
“We are delighted to receive this award, which recognizes the hard work and dedication of our teams all across Africa,” said Francisco Nuñez, VP Global Partners Network at Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “African businesses are among the fastest-growing and most innovative and we are proud to be part of their success.”
With operations in 42 African countries, CWT has the largest presence of any international travel management company in Africa. Together with CWT’s fully-owned businesses in Egypt and Morocco, a joint venture in South Africa and CWT’s international partner’s network elsewhere, travelers have access to CWT’s award-winning products and services all across Africa.
CWT’s presence in Africa is driven by customer’s needs: many of CWT’s Energy Resource and Marine customers require travel management services in developing markets across the continent. CWT also looks after many customers in financial services, consulting, manufacturing and telecoms, both multinationals who operate there, and homegrown African businesses.
CWT specializes in providing innovative travel solutions to its customers – in particular, advanced online tools. In 2017, for example, CWT successfully deployed an online solution for a large energy customer in Republic of Congo, giving travelers real-time access and confirmation – a first for this market.
Meanwhile, many customers are looking to consolidate their travel management in one central hub. To meet that need, CWT set up a state-of-the-art Customer Service Center (CSC) in 2015, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and serving customers across sub-Saharan Africa.
This hub model provides customers with a single point of contact for all of their African travel needs, but with the unique benefit of access to local Air and Hotel content, and billing in local currencies. For example, clients in Kenya whose travel program is managed through the CSC have access to specific local content and fares, just as if they were dealing with their local CWT office. Invoicing and payment take place inside Kenya, allaying concern around overseas payments.
In some markets, internet down-time and telecom issues impacts local service. The CSC solution thus ensures that customers can always book their travel through their dedicated team in South Africa. It’s a winning combination: local knowledge and tools, and the technological sophistication and worldwide coverage that comes with being part of a global network.
About Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected. We provide their travelers with a consumer-grade travel experience, combining innovative technology with our vast experience. Every day we look after enough travelers to fill almost 200 Boeing 747s and around 100,000 hotel rooms, and handle 95 corporate events. We have more than 18,000 people in nearly 150 countries, and in 2016 posted a total transaction volume of US$ 23 billion.