Business travel booms, expectations rise
Executives hope new technology streamlines, simplifies trip management, ticket purchases
With China’s reform and opening-up advancing and the country’s dynamic economy maturing, the business travel market is becoming increasingly mature, and the expectations of people taking part in that market are rising, experts said at the Corporate Lodging Forum in Shanghai on Wednesday.
Tobias Ragge, CEO of HRS Group, host of the event, said China maintained an impressive pace of outward investment in the first quarter of this year, especially in the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The initiative covers the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, both proposed by China in 2013 to increase international exchanges by revitalizing the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.
Ragge said he has complete confidence in China’s business travel market, which is booming after the country’s growing investment in overseas projects and increasingly close ties with other nations around the world.
Data from the Global Business Travel Association show spending on the market is projected to grow at an 8 percent rate this year, enabling the country to continue leading the world in the sector.
Simplifying business travel has become a key issue in corporate travel management, because of the rapid development of new technologies and rising demands and expectations of the market, experts said at the forum.
That partially explains why the forum designated “simplifying business travel” as its theme, organizers said.
Findings of a survey conducted by HRS and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and targeted at buyers of corporate travel services show that 72 percent of the respondents rank the streamlined management of business travel as a top priority in their work.
The concern ranked among the top four considerations, after cost reduction at 88 percent of all votes, data security at 84 percent, and business travelers’ satisfaction at 75 percent.
More and more corporate travel managers have paid attention to simplification — a developing trend in the industry, said Jiang Jun, vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region at HRS.
The trend reflects a common demand from both business travelers and service managers, Jiang said.
The introduction of new technologies and the expansion of the business travel market create management needs that are difficult to meet with traditional operations. Thus, it is becoming pressing to simplify and innovate the management procedures and approaches, she noted.
“We have noticed that corporate travelers have higher demand for streamlined procedures and immediacy in their travel experiences,” Jiang said.
“The complexity in corporate trip management, technological progress and demand from businesses and travelers will all advance the entire industry’s growth toward high efficiency, simplification and transparency.”
Shi Nanfei, managing director Greater China of HRS, said the business travel sector is a techdriven industry.
New technologies including artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain are closely related to the simplification of management procedures concerning business trips, Shi said.
Ranging from hotel service purchase to research and reservation, from centralized payment to cost management and analysis, every step on the chain needs technological support to become intelligent, he said.
“Not only professional expertise and industrial solutions, but also strong capabilities of research and development, and technological innovation need to be factored into seeking external partners in business process outsourcing,” he said.
Jiang said that centralized payment provides a solution to avoiding the lengthened refunding procedures and high labor costs now experienced by some companies
“It is the key to the simplification of the entire procedures of corporate travel management,” she said. Centralized payment would eliminate the need “for advance payment by individuals and refunding claims”.
Online travel checkups also contribute to an improved corporate travel experience, she added.
“The hotels that adopt the centralized payment method will gain popularity among business travelers and corporations, thus sharpening an edge in the market competitiveness.”