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01Investment Plans
Figures from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) reveal the global business travel industry has rebounded at a more accelerated rate than anticipated just a year ago and is now expected to surpass its pre-pandemic spending level of $1.4 trillion in 2024 – and grow to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027. In 2022, global business travel spending rose 47% to $1.03 trillion, with strong gains continuing and 32% growth expected in 2023.
These robust gains were fueled by pent-up demand after the COVID-19 pandemic, more favorable global economic conditions in 2022 and 2023 and recession risks that have yet to materialize.
Against a backdrop of accelerating global recovery, travel expectations continue to evolve. Business travelers today expect end-to-end, personalized experiences and simple journeys which deliver value, every time.
Strong appetite for technology investment among Business Travel Agencies around the world.
Business Travel Agencies are keen to invest to meet these changing expectations. While only 9% are ‘conservative,’ in their investment plans, some 91% plan ‘at least’ moderate investment in their businesses over the coming year. Business Travel Agencies are particularly bullish and investing ‘aggressively’ in Latin America (59%), Africa (62%) and the Middle East (51%).
0%
‘conservative’ in their investment plans
0%
planning ‘at least’
moderate investment
Business Travel Agencies plan to increase investment in technology by
13% in the coming 12 months
In total, some 69% of Business Travel Agencies plan to invest more in technology than in the previous 12 months and a further 28% will invest ‘about the same’. Only 3% plan to reduce investment in technology over the coming year, suggesting a strong appetite for spending.
On average across the world, Business Travel Agencies plan to increase investment in technology by 13% in the coming twelve months – a figure comparable to that reported by Online Travel Agencies as part of the Travel Technology Investment Trends research. However, Latin America was a notable outlier on the upside, with the planned average investment 16% higher when compared to the previous 12 months.
Variety of new capabilities sought by the industry
With these ambitious plans for investment established, industry leaders were asked what was driving the boom.
A wide variety of objectives are driving this investment in technology, with relatively equal weighting, including offering an improved user experience (65%), innovation (59%), revenue increases (55%), sustainability (53%) and margin improvement (51%).
Notably, cost reduction was only cited as a driver by 38% of respondents, by far the lowest response option. This again is similar to what was observed in the Online Travel Agency sector.
“Business Travel Agencies are seeking a range of new capabilities when it comes to technology investments.”
Paul de Villiers
SVP, Global Business Accounts
Amadeus
Business Travel Agencies cited a number of capabilities they sought to drive new revenue streams:
%
The ability to manage ‘blended travel’ trips
%
Book additional products, including meetings, transfers, cars and rail
%
Offer consulting services on sustainable travel
%
Implement a digital payments strategy that drives rebates
%
Allow for the reselling of corporate travel technology
%
The targeting of previously unmanaged travel
Improving productivity is a
key
technology challenge
for
Business Travel Agencies
Business Travel Agencies are keen to overcome several challenges through investment in
technology, largely focused on improving productivity, which was cited by 35% of respondents.
Gaining access to the right information to help travelers make sustainable choices (33%), developing a choice of business models to maximize revenue (30%), driving sufficient traffic to company websites (29%) and providing a full end-to-end trip to customers (27%) were also key technology challenges to be overcome.
At the same time, merchandising (23%) and preparing for New Distribution Capability (NDC) (27%) were viewed as challenges by fewer Business Travel Agencies, perhaps explaining why they are not highlighted as priority investment areas either.
Improving productivity
Help travelers make sustainable choices
Develop choice of business models to maximize revenue
Drive sufficient traffic to company websites
Provide full end-to-end trip to customers
Business Travel Agencies are looking for the technological solutions to help them do more, with less.
Amadeus offers a range of solutions designed to optimize performance at every level of an organization and at every stage of the booking life cycle.
However, with only a quarter of Business Travel Agencies respondents citing NDC preparations as a challenge and even less selecting merchandising, it does appear there is more work to do. Last year marked an important milestone in the adoption of NDC as booking volumes have grown significantly compared to 2022. During 2023, more major airlines, like Air Canada and SAS, decided to make their NDC content available via Amadeus.
For some airlines, we observe that one in every three bookings made via the Amadeus Travel Platform is now made using NDC. Amadeus is encouraging Business Travel Agencies to be NDC-ready, as airlines are now accelerating their transition to become modern retailers.”
Francesca Benati
Senior Vice President,
Travel Sellers, Europe, & Country General Manager, Italy, Amadeus
