Business travel consultancy Festive Road has published an
updated version of its Macroscope report in which it reviews the eight trends
identified in its predecessor and adds a ninth – ‘disruption at the core’.
First published in January 2022, the report identified eight
key trends Festive Road believes will shape travel management in the 2020s:
dispersed workforces, heightened focus on ESG, the closer integration of travel
and meetings, the end-to-end trip experience, dynamic content, APIs and microservices,
the power of data, and the opportunity for travel managers to ‘take the lead’
rather than be directed.
Considering the diverse and fluctuating challenges faced by
buyers in the last two years, the Macroscope 2.0 report published this week
features disruption management as a ninth trend.
“Disruption has moved from being incident-specific to become
an everyday issue that our industry needs to constantly manage and adapt to,”
says Festive Road managing partner Caroline Strachan. “Disruption management in
its broadest sense has become a core skill of the travel and meetings
professional.”
Strachan highlights the likes of supply chain and service
issues, the ongoing talent shortage, disrupted distribution channels and
content fragmentation, heightened geo-political conditions and the increasingly
unpredictable impact of climate change on travel plans.
According to Festive Road, more than 50 buyers have conducted
a self-assessment against the trends, with results showing that participants felt
most equipped to take the lead rather, than be directed, while ESG comes a close
second.
In contrast, the potential represented by the expanding API
marketplace does not yet appear to have brought widespread buyer empowerment,
says the report. “Many buyers still feel ill-equipped to deal with the wide-scale
changes around distribution and direct connectivity,” it adds.
The consultancy also says that wherever it has engaged
with buyers around the world, they have “unanimously agreed that the trend with
the most influence on the travel management ecosystem is ‘the whole trip
experience’.” It reports that improving the overall experience, from the
initial booking through to post-trip activities, is top of mind for many travel
managers.