Business travel is highly positive, with a growth forecast of 4.3% for Europe and 7% for Spain. Spending on business travel is set to exceed 1.7 billion dollars in 2022
According to the GBTA BTI Outlook 2019, which has been analysing data on the business travel sector since 2009, spending on business travel is set to exceed 1.7 billion dollars in 2022. With regards to Spain, and as the National Tourism Survey (ETR) carried out by the Spanish National Statistics Institute indicated, business travel increased by 1.6% over the previous year, accumulating average daily spending of 116 euros, which was the highest of the total number of trips made. In closing, the European Business Travel Barometer 2019, which was produced by American Express Global Business Travel stated that the future of business travel is highly positive, with a growth forecast of 4.3% for Europe and 7% for Spain, which received the best prognosis of all the European countries analysed.
In this context, we have created a list of some of the trends in the sector for the coming years:
- Flexibility, agility and the simplification of processes for users
The integration of all actions in a single travel platform – booking, payment, hotels, flights and car rentals in just one click – is something that’s going to be demanded by users in the coming years.
- Implementation and control of travel policies
Integrating travel policies with the rest of the company’s policies is going to be a key factor for companies within a short period of time. The possibilities of setting spending limits for each employee, taking global control of all costs, extracting graphs about the most usual destinations, etc. is an advance that traditional travel agencies fail to provide companies with, and they form an indispensable tool for future decision making…
- Personalisation
Just as in all sectors, users want personalised services that are tailored to their needs and personal profile. In a world where tech tools allow us to extract information using data, we must offer customers a personalised service that will enable them to enjoy their corporate trips. In this respect, the ideas of adapting experiences to hotel guests based on data from previous stays (room temperature, lighting, mini bar preferences, etc.) are gaining strength.
- Include bleisure in corporate travel
The opportunity to enjoy leisure time on business trips is an option that’s gaining ground once again, especially among millennials and the so-called Generation Z. Bleisure can also focus on other types of experiences that go beyond leisure and entertainment and include cultural visits in the destination or wellness experiences that allow them to relax and unwind after a long day’s work away from home.
- Commitment to security
The panorama of global instability makes security one of the factors that companies must offer to their users. 24-hour assistance and knowing that you’ll always have someone on the other end of the phone to assist you is an essential element and an added value when booking a business trip.
