A new report from forecasting agency Globetrender and Amadeus travel and expense tool Cytric Easy has identified a number of key trends in business travel for the coming year.
The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the evolution of technology and increased awareness of environmental concerns, have led corporate travelers to be “increasingly demanding when traveling, as they seek to get the most value from each trip”.
Bundled itineraries (an evolution of the current 'bleisure' trip in which a weekend is added to a midweek work trip) are seeing “the relaxation and personalization of once-rigid corporate travel policies that are now “put the employee experience at the center,” while the days of teamwork recede. They are also evolving toward longer “strategic getaways.”
Sustainability concerns are being taken increasingly seriously: a survey of 896 senior decision-makers commissioned by Amadeus found that 90 percent of travel companies had a strategy to achieve environmental sustainability goals. or they planned to implement one in 2024.
This translates into a demand for workers to justify business travel, with employees increasingly engaging in “goal stacking” – arranging trips to meet multiple goals rather than simply flying back and forth for a single meeting or event.
Meanwhile, new technology trends include artificial intelligence personal assistants (or 'AI PAs'), which can help advise on itinerary options and guide users through company travel policies; and the use of virtual cards and digital expenses to eliminate “cumbersome manual management of expense forms and constant juggling of paper receipts.”
Jenny Southan, CEO and founder of Globetrender, said that “if there is one word to sum up business travel in 2024, it will be 'discernment'.”
“Employees no longer want to sacrifice areas of their personal lives to be constantly on the road, and companies must balance meeting financial and ESG objectives, which will mean all parties will need to be more selective about which trips they undertake.” .
To read the full report, Click here.
business traveler It recently put together its own list of future travel trends, from biometrics and sustainable aviation fuel to tracking carbon emissions, “multimodal” travel and the growth of co-working. To read our feature in full, see:
Future travel trends
