Corporate Travel Management (CTM, ASX Code: CTD) has today announced a new brand offering specifically created for the resource and related industries – Resource Travel Management (RTM).

Steeped in the mining culture, RTM offers the unique expertise and know-how which is explicitly required to effectively manage the travel requirements of Australia’s fastest growing industry segment.

With more than 30% of its business hailing from the mining and related sectors, CTM Managing Director Jamie Pherous said the launch of RTM was the logical next step for the AFTA-award winning travel management company – which celebrated 18 years in business at the weekend - in its service of these industries.

“We are really pleased to be launching Resource Travel Management as part of Corporate Travel Management,” said Mr Pherous.

“It has always been our philosophy to listen to our clients and to tailor solutions that they need. The mining and related industries account for a large and important part of our portfolio, so it was time to put a brand out there that specifically caters to their specialised needs.

“The release of this new brand, which packages our resource-specific products, tools and industry expertise for the market, sees us again leading the way when it comes to innovative client solutions.

“We have extensive experience in these industries, from mining to oil and gas, to coal, to iron ore – you name it – in Western Australia, in Queensland and also offshore in Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific and now Africa and Mongolia.

“These industries are growing, and they need a lot of assistance because their travel needs are so manual, that is why I am so passionate to be able to give this industry the skill-set, the products and the industry-leading expertise that it needs, and quite frankly deserves, with the launch of RTM.”

CTM Western Australian General Manager Glenn Wilcox welcomed the launch.

“Traditionally TMCs have struggled to provide the resource sector with a true end to end travel management solution,” said Mr Wilcox.

“With Resource Travel Management, we will fill that void, which is very exciting!”

CTM Queensland General Manager Andre Moten listed emergency situation support, end-to-end logistical solutions and industry expertise as key areas in which RTM stands apart from other competitors in the resource space.

“I think the launch of RTM is the best way that CTM can signal to the resource industry as a whole that we are serious about this market, and that we have the specialisations that are critical for success in this area,” said Moten.

“The launch of this brand was all about understanding the needs of the various sectors within this industry – they are looking for understanding, support and quick response in emergency situations, they are looking for suppliers who are on their level and understand what they mean when they talk about dongas, and they want end-to-end logistical solutions.

“They are looking at everything from pre-trip approval systems to travel portals to booking systems which can handle not only commercial bookings but also non-commercial requirements such as charter flights.

“They then want to see that information represented through management information reporting, and they want to see the data flowing through to expense management systems and business intelligence systems – where they can work dynamically with the data to analyse, for example, what moving market share could do to their respective supplier agreements and other negotiations they may want to undertake, or have RTM or CTM undertake on their behalf.

“RTM and CTM can do all of these things and more. We know we offer the most compelling solution for the resource industry and that no one is really positioned as well as CTM and RTM in their understanding of the resource industry at the moment – we have so many customers in these sectors, so many pieces of technology aligned around the industry – this launch is just the next step in our ongoing investment.”

As part of today’s announcement, a dedicated Resource Travel Management website has been launched at www.travelrtm.com, featuring not only product and service information but also case studies detailing real-life examples of how CTM and RTM have assisted resource industry clients with a variety of situations. The web presence can also be accessed on web-enabled mobile devices with a specialised mobile site, and via the navigation bar of CTM’s website, www.travelctm.com.