Amadeus Event Reveals Three Corporate Travel Trends

Amadeus and BCD Travel recently held an Asia Pacific Corporate Travel Network event.

Sponsored by SAP, over 40 corporate travel managers gathered at Raffles Hotel, Singapore to discuss the top trends impacting corporate travel in the region.

With business travel on the rise, delegates identified a need to work together within the corporate travel sector, to strike a balance between catering to travellers’ needs and keeping corporate travel costs low. A snap poll at the event revealed three key priority areas for travel managers in Asia Pacific.

1. Attendees collectively agreed that retaining a travel consultant was of the utmost importance to ensure consistent service quality and using technology to integrate multiple or complex bookings.

2. In the quickly evolving travel sector, ‘duty of care’ remains paramount. Travel managers are increasingly looking towards integrated solutions as a 'corporate duty of care and reporting tool’ to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

3. Lastly, the availability of a ‘one-stop shop’ when making travel arrangements remains key. With the tech-savvy end user in mind, travel management companies are progressively adopting user-generated content and big data to customise and personalise the travel experience through a single entry point.

Karun Budhraja, Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Communications, Amadeus Asia Pacific delivered the keynote and moderated a panel at the CTN event and said that participants collectively agreed that corporate travel is on increase across Asia Pacific.

“With red tape or visa restrictions lifting, we will see an increasing number of travellers commuting between countries for their jobs. Indonesia will see close to 1 in 5 small business employees. We will also see the rise of the female business traveller that is predicted to increase up to 400 per cent in 2030, from the current 4.5 million. These represent many opportunities for travel providers,” said Budhraja.