Corporate Traveler USA, the flagship SME division of the Flight Centre Travel Group, has named John van den Heuvel as its president. Van den Heuvel will be responsible for driving strategic growth initiatives country-wide, while also ensuring the continuation of exceptional service delivery to corporate clients across the United States. Having recently relocated to New York, he will lead operations from Corporate Traveler’s new headquarters in Bryant Park.
Van den Heuvel brings a wealth of experience and a strong track record of success to his new position. Prior to his promotion, he served as president of Gogo Vacations, where he made big contributions to the company’s expansion, and redesigned it as a digital-first seller of wholesale travel products. He first began his travel career with Flight Centre Travel Group 21 years ago, and initially joined the Corporate Traveler brand in 2008, before transitioning to the role of Gogo Vacations’ president in 2015.
“Spending on global business surged 47 percent in 2022, finishing the year at $1.03 trillion, and it is expected that global business travel will recover to its pre-pandemic total of $1.4 trillion in 2024, and grow to nearly $1.8 trillion by the end of 2027,” said Van den Heuvel. “SMEs are the backbone of the U.S. economy and it’s critically important, especially in economically uncertain times, that the sector keeps traveling at both home and abroad to retain staff and win new business to ensure they can survive and thrive. We’re driving towards 6,000 customers, and 450 employees, while also maintaining our incredible customer retention rate. These, along with winning significant amounts of new business, will propel us forward to our goal of $2 billion Total Transaction Value.”
Recent statistics released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealed there are 33.2 million small businesses in America, which combined, account for 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses. Small businesses are also credited with just under two-thirds of the new jobs created from 1995 to 2021.
“Over the next year, we’ll be strengthening our sales, customers success, and operational teams, in our current three key regions of East, West, and Midwest by strategically growing our footprint of dedicated teams in our current core markets of Boston, New York City, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Orange County CA, and Denver,” Van den Heuvel continued. “Our rising markets of Seattle, San Diego, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Nashville and Miami will see us moving into five regions in the next two years and we’ll continue to grow our team of strong, skilled consultants and sales professionals who are specialized in dedicated travel services of start-up, mid-market, and SME customers."
For more information, visit www.corporatetraveler.us.
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