It is the first international expansion for the Melbourne-based corporate travel platform, ahead of planned further growth in Europe and the US

The decision follows investment in the Locomote business last year by Travelport, which first took a majority stake in the company in 2015.

Travelport Locomote allows all travel activity, whether online, offline or a mix of the two, to be managed seamlessly. It offers a range of app-powered workflows and consolidates the entire travel lifecycle. This empowers travel managers to drive behavioural change in their travellers, according to the company, and achieve a "leap in programme efficiencies that goes further than the usual single focus on online booking".

It is used across a range of industries including education, legal, banking, insurance and not-for-profit, with clients including World Vision Australia, University of Melbourne, Allen & Overy and Credit Union Australia.

The expansion will be spearheaded by chief executive Sandra McLeod (pictured), who has 35 years of experience in the international travel industry — 27 of which have been with Travelport — and driven byVicki Mills, director of sales and support UK.

McLeod said: “Travelport Locomote’s technology was built with a global mindset from the very beginning. The UK is crucial to Travelport Locomote’s success with a population of early technology adopters and a focus on innovation.

"In addition to that, we benefit from the unwavering support from our parent, Travelport, which is headquartered in the UK and has an extensive presence of travel experts here. The corporate travel industry is changing rapidly, driven by a shift in travellers’ expectations and booking behaviours as well as a demand for technology to address companies’ need for increasingly efficient business solutions.