Top Business Travel Trends for 2018

Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT) predicts that a strong focus for companies in 2018 should be to seek ways to make their employees more productive, implement safety and security measures, and use travel as an enabler for business growth.

Here are FCBT’s top predictions for business travel in 2018.

EVOLUTION OF THE TRAVEL AGENT

TO THE CONSULTANT

Today’s travel agent is, in fact, a travel consultant – with the expertise and knowledge to go beyond the booking transaction and add value to the rest of the travel journey. Where the travel consultant adds real value in 2018 is by meeting more strategic needs, such as delivering costsavings, introducing business efficiencies, interpreting travel-related data, and ensuring the safety and security of the traveller, as much as possible, during their business trip.

INCREASED FOCUS ON

TRAVELLER SAFETY

Airport security in South Africa is in the spotlight and will continue to be top of mind in 2018. “The days of short transits and getting to the airport just two hours prior to your flight are long gone,” says Ryan Potgieter, Brand Leader FCBT. “Travellers will need to account for the additional security measures and resulting queues by getting to the airport earlier, and increasing the transit time between flights.”

The knock-on effect of these regimes is the responsibility of smaller corporates to pay more attention to their duty of care programmes. It’s no longer only large conglomerates who have to consider emergency evacuation procedures for their travellers. It is now every company’s responsibility to take all measures possible to ensure the safety of their staff for the duration of their business trips.

AIR TICKET SURCHARGES

Airlines are under severe pressure to keep their costs down, and the price of distribution is one of their greatest expenses. Margins in the airline industry are tiny and external factors – such as rising oil prices and foreign currency shortages – often have a great impact on their profitability.

“The viability of routes will continue to be assessed in 2018,” Potgieter predicts. If a route does not have a basic market, or competitors and customers are able to drive down the ticket prices on that route to unsustainable levels, the airline may choose to withdraw that route. This, on a continent like Africa, has serious repercussions, bearing in mind that there are only 300 estimated city pairs that can sustain themselves on a point-to-point basis on the continent. It is therefore not in the best interest of the corporate and business traveller to continuously drive price decreases.

FCBT strives to offer clients the widest range of travel products for the best possible value, helping corporates maximise their travel spend and personalise their booking experience.

BLEISURE

Bleisure travel is a growing trend, set to rise in 2018, where long haul business destinations are providing an opportunity for travellers to extend their trips for leisure purposes, adding a day or two before or after a conference or meetings to spend some time exploring the sights. It has been closely linked to employee productivity, reducing traveller friction and improving job satisfaction.

The bottom line is that corporates need to shift their focus to the wellbeing and safety of their travellers. You can only grow your business by improving productivity, ensuring your travellers are looked after from take-off to touchdown, and maximising your travel spend. Partnering with a reputable TMC like FCBT who has the right global contracts in place, allows corporates to get back to focusing on their businesses, while FCBT takes care of the rest.

For more information, visit www.fcbt.co.za.