How Our Corporate Support Team Can Help Your Business Thrive
The corporate travel sector has experienced a significant transformation in recent years, driven by a growing demand for flexible, sustainable, and technological solutions. We chatted to Troy Coelho, our Corporate Business Partnership Manager and Operations Manager, about how TravelManagers is at the forefront of this evolution and equipping our Personal Travel Managers(PTMs) with the support they need to thrive as corporate travel experts.
What significant trends are changing the shape of the corporate travel industry?
“Bleisure” travel, combining business and leisure travel is making a huge comeback in the corporate market. Many corporates (especially from Australia) are combining international business and leisure travel to save time, money and incorporate a better work-life balance. Of course, not all people can take a few extra weeks’ leave, however the majority of corporate travellers are including two or three days either side to unwind from trips. The environment is another trend shaping the corporate travel industry. More and more SME clients are wanting to give back to the environment. We’ve seen the number of SME clients request Carbon Emission Estimates in order for them to offset their corporate travel increase tenfold.
Can you share any statistics that illustrate these trends?
Forbes.com research indicates that nearly half of American workers embrace the concept of bleisure travel with the trend valued at more than $600 billion. Research indicates that this market will grow by 500% in the next decade. According to The Global Business Travel Association, in 2023, six out of ten travellers now blend business with leisure compared to pre-pandemic levels.
How has the corporate travel landscape changed in the last few years?
Prior to the pandemic corporate travel accounted for more than a fifth of the travel and hospitality sectors turnover. Corporate travel still hasn’t fully bounced back like the leisure sector has; however as more and more airlines increase their capacity, corporate travel will follow. A big focus with corporate travel is the effect travel has had on climate change with more and more corporations requestion carbon offset reports or offsets for their company’s travel so they can give back to the environment. Prior to the pandemic, carbon offset was just a buzz word many corporates would use to engage with their clients, however we are seeing more put their money where their mouth is when it comes to offsetting their travel.
How does TravelManagers support its PTMs in adapting to the changing face of corporate travel?
We support our PTMs by having our own in-house Corporate Business Partnership Manager (that’s me!). I assist our PTMs with any corporate reporting, client issues, contract negotiations and business development. From a technology point of view, we have been trialling a new NDC platform that our corporate PTMs will be able to use to book and service NDC corporate bookings without the issues faced with servicing post-ticketed NDC bookings. We’re also rolling out a new online booking tool (OBT) this year created by our parent company, House of Travel. This gives us more control over costs and the ability to tailor it to each corporate PTM’s specific needs. Additionally, we’ve created a custom designed workflow management tool, in partnership with Flowjo, which allows our PTMs to increase their efficiency and reduce errors to their business and bottom-line.
If you’d like to know more about creating a corporate travel business the TravelManagers way, call us for a confidential chat.
