Mobile devices will revolutionize business travel in the next 5 years
The corporate travel market is experiencing the beginning of a revolution that will culminate in less than 5 years due to the irruption of booking channels and tools that are advancing by leaps and bounds among mobile devices. Forum Business Travel has previewed the latest industry trends at the travel agent convention.
According to Íñigo Valenzuela, corporate travel expert and keynote speaker at the extraordinary conference organized by Forum Business Travel, the role of the specialized travel agency is being transformed by the emergence of new booking channels. Travel providers, especially in transportation and accommodation, are starting to launch powerful mobile applications (apps) that are already engaging holiday travelers and are starting to do so with corporate travelers from small and medium-sized companies as well.It is a matter of time before they are introduced among the big companies, because the technological barriers end up falling sooner or later, the expert explained.
Competition for corporate travel agencies comes not only from apps, but also from online agencies, which are entering with force in SMEs, metasearch engines, consulting firms, outsourcing services or what Valenzuela describes as “disruptors”, i.e., giants like Google or Apple that are entering or could enter the travel business, with enough potential to “radically change the relationship with the customer”.The travel agents gathered in the working groups of the FBT day pointed out, in any case, that the travel agency can continue to offer value to the "Business Travel" with its unified management of invoicing, with its reports, with its reports, with the unified management of the invoice, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports, with its reports;Business Travel with its unified management of invoicing, reporting, support before, during and after travel, claims processing and greater neutrality in intermediation with suppliers, services that pure, highly standardized online agencies tend to overlook.
Íñigo Valenzuela also highlighted in his presentation that Spain continues to lag behind other European countries in the rate of adoption of self-booking tools, solutions that automate and reduce the cost of business travel management processes. The expert assured that this situation could change when train reservations are integrated into these processes, as is already happening in France and Germany.It must be taken into account that, in our country, around 45% of domestic travel linked to business travel takes place by train, thanks to the development of high-speed trains.