DATABANK
POSITIVE THINKING Two recent surveys conducted by Business Travel News – one of travel managers and one of TMCs – paint a vivid picture of the industry’s trajectory DATABANK
What buyers say… Travel managers today generally work for organisations that are recovering to at least three-quarters of 2019 business travel volume and have agreements with their primary travel management companies based on transaction fees. They would also like to see additional TMC investment in their contact center capabilities and moderately happy with TMCs’ responsiveness. At least that’s according to a Business Travel News poll of 176 travel and procurement managers in Europe and the US conducted in February 2023.
Corporate travel recovery continues Buyers’ projected 2023 business travel spending versus 2019
TMC responsiveness needs work On an ascending scale of 1 to 5, ratings of primary TMC responsiveness in prior six months
1%
Exceeding 2019 levels Matching 2019 levels Down less than 10% Down 10%-25% Down 26%-50% Down more than 50%
Not at all responsive
8%
15%
18%
Not very responsive
25%
Average responsiveness
35%
Better than average responsiveness
18%
28%
30%
Very responsive
14%
Buyers seek tech investment Respondents’ desired investment areas for primary TMC*
8%
Contact centre solutions (including chat, SMS messaging, telephone systems)
58%
Transaction fees still dominate Configuration of respondents’ primary TMC
Mobile itinerary management technology for travellers (proprietary or third-party) Client reporting/business intelligence/data management Non-GDS content aggregation (including access to non-GDS air, hotel and ground inventory)
50%
49%
Per-trip fee, fully loaded Management fee structure Subscription fee structure Don’t know Other Transaction fee structure
31%
11%
Customer relationship management systems
31%
Traveller profile systems
11%
30%
Proprietary online booking capabilities for client travellers (desktop and/or mobile)
28%
5% 2%
61%
Mid-office technology and custom programming
25%
Chatbot technology
23%
10%
Back-office/financial accounting systems
20%
None of the above
9%
Other
3%
*Respondents could select more than one answer
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businesstravelnewseurope.com | SPRING 2023
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