THERE’S MORE TO GOOD TRAVEL MANAGEMENT THAN JUST CUTTING COSTS

If I told you that the biggest challenge facing travel managers is cutting costs, would you be surprised? When the recession hit, so were travel budgets. And though they have gradually crept back up, travel managers have remained under continual pressure to make them work harder, smarter and get more for their organisation’s money. 

Each year, the Business Travel Show surveys thousands of travel bookers and buyers across Europe. Between 2015 and 2018, they claimed ‘cutting costs’ was their biggest challenge. Last year, this was bumped into second place by Brexit. This year, however – and seemingly out of nowhere – sustainability has appeared on the top 10 list for the first time. Climate change also made its debut on the list of top ten industry challenges, going straight in at number one. 

The environment has always been a focus for travellers and the travel industry. Marriott is just one hotel group, which has vowed to stop using small plastic toiletry bottles and the percentage of passengers travelling between London and Glasgow by rail over air has just reached an all-time high.

However, the Business Travel Show poll revealed that 71% of travel managers don’t currently offset aviation-related carbon emissions and just 26% offer information to travellers about their carbon footprint. This is one of the reasons the event, which takes place at Olympia London from 26-27 February 2020, will spotlight conscious travel.

“We are at a real tipping point when it comes to climate change and sustainability. Awareness is at an all-time high and the Government’s Net Zero legislation will be a huge instigator for change within travel. 76% of our travel buyers welcome it and Qantas and IAG have both recently committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Business Travel Show group event director David Chapple.

“As a result, more and more companies are being forced to re-think how their business travel affects the environment and human rights, and this raises two really important questions. 1 – is it possible to introduce a sustainable travel policy cost-effectively, given the continued pressure on buyers to cut costs? And, 2, is there even such a thing as an ethical travel programme in the first place?”

Both of these questions will be debated during the Business Travel Show conference, which will also investigate how car rental may offer a green alternative to travel programmes, thanks to major innovations like telematics, car sharing, car clubs and electric vehicles transforming pricing, operations, sustainability and duty of care priorities. 

A further session focused on traveller wellbeing – which also comes under the ‘conscious travel’ umbrella – and promises to help buyers progress from awareness to practical improvements, while also successfully securing the backing of senior management. And the new Wellness Retreat at the show will be a haven of serenity on the show floor where visitors can take time out and relax while getting hands on with innovative travel wellness products and services helping them to look after their travellers better.

This blog post was written by David Chapple, UK Portfolio Director of Northstar Travel Group, which runs the Business Travel Show taking place 26-27 February 2020 at Olympia London. Visitors can register for a free pass to attend at www.businesstravelshow.com/register 

IS BREXIT REALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SAFETY OF OUR TRAVELLERS?

Our annual Business Travel Show survey revealed that Brexit is not only the biggest challenge facing buyers next year, it will continue to cause them problems as far ahead as 2022.

For the first time in four years, cost-cutting was knocked off the top spot of the list of forthcoming challenges to be replaced by Brexit, which shot up from fourth place – its home for the last two years. Airbus UK travel manager and one of our advisory board members, Geoff Allwright, even admitted that Brexit is the one thing that ‘keeps him awake at night’.

With the news agenda saturated by Brexit, none of this comes as much of a surprise. But there were two interesting results from our survey. The first is that our poll (of 134 European buyers) showed that 65 per cent of travel managers don’t have a post-Brexit plan in place. Whether that’s a cause of concern or simply a side effect of the fact it’s impossible to plan for something so uncertain, is hard to know, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

And the second thing? While Brexit rocked up the chart and pricing, the value of sterling, globalisation and technology also make the 2019 top ten, duty of care and traveller risk have dropped out of the chart completely after taking the second slot for the last two years. Completely dropped out. In a world where terrorism and natural disasters are not getting any less frequent; at a time when travel managers claim that duty of care, traveller risk, traveller tracking – all of these things – are the ultimate priority to them.

In line with the Business Travel Show’s Travel 2022 theme for 2019, buyers were also asked what they expect to be the biggest challenges facing them in three years’ time. Similarly, to the 12-month forecast, Brexit and cost-cutting topped the table. Visas also made an appearance at number seven, mirroring the general concern about the impact that Brexit will have on the free and easy movement of people across borders.

1	Brexit	6	Consolidation
2	Rising costs	7	Visas
3	NDC	8	Climate change
4	Traveller safety	9	Personalising travel
5	Travel alternatives	10	Sharing economy

Whether for or against the UK leaving the Europe Union, the last few months have been particularly frustrating and baffling for both sides leaving everyone possibly even more uncertain about any potential outcomes than they were a year or two ago. Because of that, I think our poll captures the Zeitgeist perfectly and it doesn’t surprise me that – right now – buyers are more concerned about Brexit than cost cutting.

This post was written by Business Travel Show marketing manager Kye Blackett. 

The Business Travel Show is the leading event in Europe for corporate travel professionals, taking place 20-21 February 2019 at Olympia London. Buyers can register for a free visitor pass at www.businesstravelshow.com/register. Buyers with a minimum annual spend of £1 million can also apply to attend as a hosted buyer at http://www.businesstravelshow.com/hosted-buyers.

GUEST BLOG: 2018 Outlook – the impact of Brexit, traveller safety and geopolitical

Brexit will have positive effect on business travel

Travel managers need to start focusing on the direction their company’s business may have to move towards in terms of trading post-Brexit. Now is the time to start reviewing their travel programmes and think about how they will look at the end of 2018.  They need to be asking questions about which markets their company will be able to sell in, should they be opening up new markets, can we sell in existing markets? 

However, after a slow start to the year, once major decisions concerning borders and ‘passporting’ have been confirmed, Brexit will have a positive effect on global business travel as companies consider new markets, or seek to bolster existing contracts. UK domestic travel also has potential to increase off the back of the government’s plans to establish technology, research and development projects post-Brexit. Many UK manufacturers are looking at potentially expanding their exports in the USA and China, or they will need to meet face to face with current clients to ensure business continuity. Corporates need to cover all bases which potentially means more business travel. As decisions are made by the government and plans become clearer, we could see business travel growth in the second half of 2018.

Even greater focus on traveller safety

The business travel sector will see an even greater emphasis on traveller safety not only due to the ongoing threat of terrorism, but also geopolitical instability which will add to the complexities of business travel in 2018, making personal safety and duty of care a top priority for companies. The recent laptop ban on certain flights to the US, for example, and increased border controls, all make business travel more challenging for the traveller and could make companies think twice about whether an employee really needs to make a trip. Personal safety will also be an increased priority for corporates if they are having to travel to new markets in order to generate new business deals post-Brexit. Hence we are encouraging clients to make use of traveller safety solutions such as our goSecure risk management technology and VIMA mobile app.

Oil prices will continue to climb meaning more travel in energy sector

In the UK, around 20% of our clients are in the energy sector, so we are keeping a close eye on oil prices. Barring any major disruptive geopolitical influences, we are forecasting that oil prices will continue to climb steadily in 2018. This would reignite investment in oil and gas exploration, which our energy clients put on hold at the start of the energy sector downturn in 2014. As a result, travel spend by oil and gas clients should increase by 2019. President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement could also impact on refineries in the US. With less of a priority on greener energy, production by refineries could increase, impacting on supply and demand. In addition, Trump has controversially signed executive orders to allow the construction of new pipelines, creating more jobs in the oil sector. Whilst these are unpopular in terms of their impact on the environment and climate change, ultimately they could create more jobs in the oil sector, and generate more business travel.

This post was written by Paul East, chief operating officer, UK/Europe & Americas, Wings Travel Management (www.wings.travel). The TMC is unveiling additional travel risk management services at the Business Travel Show, including traveller evacuation and disaster response support.