Travel buyers identified AI as the leading trend to shape the future of travel sourcing, although a solid majority are not yet leveraging AI in their own programmes, according to a new BCD Travel survey.
In the survey of 132 travel buyers – conducted in August, with 43 per cent of respondents from North America and about a third from Europe – 61 per cent said increased use of AI and automation would shape the future of travel sourcing, a higher percentage than any other option in the survey.
Only 14 per cent, however, said they were using AI to "some extent" in the sourcing process, for such applications as market research, managing requests for proposal, drafting contracts and evaluating supplier performance. An additional 1 per cent said they used AI "extensively" in sourcing.
That minority could turn into a majority, however, as 42 per cent said they are not yet using AI in sourcing but are exploring options. Just under 40 per cent of buyer respondents said they are not using AI in sourcing and didn't indicate they are planning to do so.
Other trends buyers identified as the biggest shapers of the future of sourcing include multi-year supplier agreements (46 per cent) and a shift toward dynamic pricing and continuous sourcing (45 per cent).
Cost control and savings is by far the biggest priority for buyers in sourcing, according to the survey. Eighty-six per cent of buyers in the survey identified it as one of the top three priorities of their travel team's sourcing strategy, nearly 50 percentage points higher than the next-highest options, including collecting quality data from suppliers (38 per cent), contract compliance (36 per cent) and reducing supplier count for better leverage (31 per cent).
Pricing also topped the list of sourcing challenges for buyers, with 45 per cent saying high costs and 41 per cent saying rate fluctuations were among their top three sourcing challenges.