Business Travel News

As the crisis digs in, BCD Travel's Stewart Harvey appears to be on the frontline in his dealings with the corporate travel agency's customers, which are calling for a clinical travel management approach to emerge safely on the other side.

Amadeus has seen a dramatic drop in the plane tickets booked and passengers processed through its systems. Its latest results show the broader impact on carriers worldwide and signal the wallop still awaiting.

Quarantine measures don't steady the nerves of already anxious corporate travel managers, who can now only hope for more bilateral agreements to help staff get flying again.

Relations are getting testy between American Express GBT and deep-pocketed investors that are backing out of a big deal. Regardless of the outcome of a lawsuit being argued in a Delaware court, Amex GBT should have plenty of money at its disposal to go shopping for strategic investments in business travel later this year.

Travel in 2021 will probably look very little like it did in 2019. How will it be different? It's not yet clear, though some themes are emerging.

Ground transportation is often the weakest link in a travel program, but if suppliers ramp up their safety protocols in a similar way to the airline and hotel sectors, they'll play a pivotal role for those travel managers eager to rev their businesses back up.

Budget cuts without an optimization strategy risks falling behind in market share and revenue when the economy bounces back. Leading travel marketing executives share similar tactics and strategies.

Tourism is now having its OCD moment in the face of the coronavirus. Will new sanitation protocols in the tourism sector buy peace of mind for travelers post-pandemic or usher in a new age of travel anxiety?

It's a significant step since the launch of Southwest Business last year, designed to tap into the travel management community. Before the crisis, roughly a third of the airline’s traffic was corporate travel. This move could help it boost that market share.

The long view on packaged tours as a travel category is bright, said Christine Petersen, the president and CEO of smarTours, a private-equity backed operator. But the sector must adapt to a socially distanced world in several practical ways if it wants to stay relevant and profitable.