The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and GIBTM, the Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meeting Exhibition, announced today a joint collaboration.

Together, GIBTM, the leading event for the meetings, incentives, business travel and events industry in the Middle East, and ACTE, the leading non-profit organization serving and advancing global business travel, will improve the business travel experience through industry education.

“This collaboration is extremely timely, as business travel and meetings continue to converge,” said ACTE Executive Director Ron DiLeo. “Face-to-face meetings are vital to business success and a healthy economy. Executives must travel to network and push forward initiatives. Through this partnership, ACTE is pleased to bring its unique level of knowledge, insight and expertise to GIBTM, increasing educational deliverables to the meetings industry.”

At the upcoming GIBTM Exhibition, March 26-28, 2012 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) in the United Arab Emirates, ACTE will deliver an educational track of sessions focused on the convergence of managing meetings and travel. The educational sessions will address how industry professionals are integrating the voice of the traveler and leveraging emerging technologies to enhance the management of business travel and corporate meetings.

“Education is vital to raising industry standards and we are very happy that ACTE is on board with us as our Strategic Partner for GIBTM 2012 as we plan on collaborating to further enhance business travel across the region,” said Lois Hall, Exhibition Manager, GIBTM. “This is especially exciting since ACTE’s objectives are in line with our new focus on business travel,” she added.

Held under the patronage of Chairman, HH Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, GIBTM 2012’s distinguished industry partners include Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, ADNEC, Etihad and The Vision. Meetme, published by NPI, is a global media partner and publisher of the Official Show Daily publication.

More information on the event, exhibitors, hosted buyers’ required qualifications, partners, networking and educational opportunities is available on www.gibtm.com.