The travel management community has been forced to refocus its priorities in the past two years because of the pandemic, and BCD Travel has identified the trends that it believes travel managers and travellers will see in 2022.
Remaining flexible is top of the list in the Business Travel Trends for 2022 report with BCD highlighting the need for travel programmes to be adjusted for new hybrid ways of working.
BCD adds that workplaces are also under scrutiny with companies needing to move away from rigid structures.
With all of this comes the need to extend duty of care to employees whenever they are away from the office and the report says companies should think in terms of people risk management rather than travel risk management.
The report also says sustainable travel is now firmly in the spotlight, putting pressure on everyone in the travel industry to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
Cybersecurity risks are another trend highlighted by the report that travel managers and travel management companies must face head on to protect companies and travellers.
It says: “The first step is to recognise cybersecurity as a daily risk to travel and take responsibility for tackling it. Prevention, or minimising the impact, will pay dividends over simply responding to cyber incidents after the damage has been done.”
Furthermore, with employees seen “as the weakest point in a company’s defence” they will need security training and tips on what to look out for when travelling.
Further trends highlighted in the report include a shift away from globalisation and towards a more diversified approach which may, in turn, mean business travel patterns change.
Finally, the study puts a spotlight on the fintech trend and says fintech-based solutions can help “simplify, digitise and automate corporate travel payment, reconciliation and invoice management”.
Jorge Cruz, executive vice president for global sales and marketing at BCD Travel, said: “With new Covid variants emerging, it’s not clear when business travel will return to pre-pandemic levels, but it’s high time companies start thinking about how to future fit their travel programmes.”
“Crucial tasks for travel managers include measuring the value of travel, demonstrating the quality of its outcome, and proving to internal stakeholders that it’s worthwhile. The key is not to simply reduce travel spend, but to increase the effectiveness of that travel towards meeting the company’s goals.”
Similar trends around sustainability, as well as other priorities for buyers, were recently highlighted in hotel group IHG's Europe Corporate Advisory Board.