Report: Five Trends That Will Define the Future of Business Travel

There’s no question that 2020 brought a seismic shift to the corporate travel sector. In the face of a global pandemic, nearly every stakeholder—including suppliers, business travelers, business travel platforms, and travel managers—had to reassess old habits, shift business plans, and reimagine what business travel might look like moving forward.

Making that exercise more challenging was the sheer number of significant changes. These included the growing acceptance of remote working arrangements and a new focus on assessing and minimizing risk for traveling employees. Businesses also grappled with the growing importance of managing company spending and gaining access to dynamic, real-time information—all to help assess a highly fluid business environment.

But what comes next? Which of the above changes are merely passing fads, and which represent permanent adjustments to how the world plans and travels for work? And most importantly, how can company decision-makers design successful business travel strategies for the future?

In this report, Skift and TripActions explore five trends that are likely to shape business travel in 2021 and the years beyond. The report relies on the results of a primary survey conducted by Skift in mid-2020, analysis of recent industry news, and interviews with key business travel experts and travel managers.

The result offers strategic guidance for travel managers, finance teams, and HR departments as they determine how to navigate this unique moment in the industry’s history.

In this report

• Five trends impacting how corporate travel is bought, sold, managed, and expensed
  
• An examination of the growing role of spend management in corporate travel strategic decision making
  
• Interviews with corporate travel industry thought leaders and analysts, as well as travel managers
  
• Selected data highlights from Skift and TripActions’ 2020 business travel survey