If more companies plan on building travel programs using tech from a mix of agencies "like a Lego house," the larger agencies need to start accommodating that, delegates at the Global Business Travel Association's European conference heard.
Being a mega-tour operator must play some part in the success of its Workwide program, where employees have surpassed 10,000 days working abroad. But plenty of other non-tourism companies can learn from TUI when it comes to offering blended travel as a perk. It's not rocket science.
Experts on the ground in both Hong Kong and Singapore already report booking spikes and surges in airfares and hotel rates. The message is to start laying the groundwork for when China eventually eases its own travel policies.
Global travel management companies are navigating new travel restrictions that include combat zones and closed airports as they organize emergency evacuations in Ukraine and beyond.
Investor appetite, rather than remote employees themselves, will be the driving force that determines where work gets done in the future — including shopping malls.
Rather than buy technology, the agency’s meeting division has struck a new type of commercial deal with the fast-growing meeting software firm Bizzabo to tap into virtual meetings. A big bet that those meetings will be here to stay.
New shapes and sizes for 2022, certainly, but more importantly a new set of priorities that may be a cause for concern for the smaller agencies left on the playing field.