Seven business travel trends of 2024

More focus on the business travel community:

Studies show that 83 percent of workers view corporate travel as a benefit of their job and 65 percent of millennials view corporate travel as evidence of their importance within their organization.

More than ever, business travel will continue to be a valuable learning experience for employees, improving their negotiation, communication and cultural understanding skills.

We believe it will become an increasing priority for companies as more recognize it as a way to recruit and retain the best talent of 2024.

More and more companies realize that traveling is not only important to establish business relationships with customers. You can motivate your employees to perform at a higher level, provide opportunities for team members to bond, and reinforce company culture.

Sustainability:

In November this year, Virgin Atlantic's historic flight using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) flew from London Heathrow to New York's JFK airport.

Sustainability seems to be on every business's radar, and while costs may initially be higher, organizations need to ask themselves if they can really afford to neglect sustainable travel.

One study confirmed that companies could risk losing top candidates: 53 percent agreed they would prioritize companies that supported them over those that didn't.

We believe that measuring CO2 in travel will become increasingly important in 2024, but it can be challenging as there are many ways to measure it. By partnering with CO2 experts, companies can introduce precise approval mechanisms that depend on CO2 emissions for planned trips.

The return on investment will be key:

Return on investment in business travel has grown in importance and will remain a key focus in 2024. According to a recent GBTA survey, 62 percent of respondents said cost management would be a top strategy for managers. of travel in 2024.

We predict there will be fewer business excursions in 2024, but those that do take place will be longer in duration and companies will try to maximize the ROI of each trip. Our data also shows that low-cost airlines now account for 1 in 3 fares globally, showing that price remains important for those booking business travel.

One more factor to consider will be whether your company is managing to capture the full cost of a trip. More companies will want to determine the holistic cost from the first coffee purchased at the airport to the cost of flights, hotels and any other additional purchases.

This is where expense management software will become more important as it merges all travel data with expenses and vice versa.

Risk management and duty of care:

According to the GBTA survey mentioned above, 44 percent believe that traveler safety will be increasingly important in 2024.

It is not surprising, as the devastating conflict in the Middle East has sparked demonstrations around the world and there has been an increase in bomb threats at airports and tourist attractions. There have also been isolated cases of terrorist attacks against tourists in Brussels and Uganda. 

Source: By Laura Busby, Commercial Director, Good Travel Management