WORDS STEPHANIE SMOOK
OPINION
HOW MUCH DO WE LOVE LISTS?
In this new year and decade, what are the hot trends that will impact business travel?
AVE YOU EVER NOTICED how many lists we create? Top three, top five, top ten, top 100, the hotlist, ones to watch… There is a list for every corner of the world and for any business travel-related institute or organisation. It’s that time of the year – we can’t keep reading; it gets confusing. Yet we do read them! At least I know I do. It’s a kind of fascination combined with curiosity. What is it in our characters or company culture that we want to be on a list? Or do we? If we do, how do we measure success? While preparing for a
H presentation, I was catching up
buyingbusinesstravel.com
on trends and developments in certain markets. I googled “list – trends – business travel” and it became clear to me that I would be reading for a while. I quickly realised that I am a list person; I do like them! I create them myself continuously because it’s very satisfying when you can cross something off and give yourself a pat on the back. Like yes, I finally got around to writing my column; now there is the shopping list, the to-call list and the must-do-this-week list. What are the top and hot lists for business travel in 2020? It looks as though we have another interesting year ahead. It’s predicted that the
business travel industry will continue to grow, and the global business travel spend will reach US$1.7 trillion by 2020! Employees expect technology to improve their business travel experience, but feel their companies aren’t moving fast enough to adopt new travel technologies. However, technology will continue to revolutionise corporate travel. Millennials and Generation Z are taking over the workplace and one of the outcomes of this demographic shift will be a continued rise of bleisure travel – nowadays business is almost always mixed with pleasure. Another trend influenced by the new generation of business travellers is the growing popularity of unconventional accommodation with a more homey feel. In addition, self- booking is becoming the norm; travel managers are having to adapt to corporate travellers opting to book their travel and accommodation themselves. ACTE has been researching, holding virtual events and publishing white papers on all major 2020 trends and developments. One trend I find fascinating is the rise of AI and chatbots, as well as virtual reality – these more advanced technologies will bring more change to our industry. For example, suppliers will use this tenchnology to discover travellers’ preferences and customise offers. At ACTE we are looking forward to the year ahead. With
CORPORATE TRAVELLERS ARE OPTING TO BOOK THEIR TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION THEMSELVES
the upcoming changes in air pricing, payment methods and lodging strategies; technologies being further enhanced and new players in the market, as well as the focus on sustainable travel, we definitely have enough content to cover at our events.
A SAD FAREWELL ACTE kicks off the year in Germany on 16 January at its Dusseldorf Forum, and then moves to Brussels on 6 February. We have more events planned in Paris (March), Zurich (6 May) and Amsterdam (25 June). Sadly, I will not be in my ACTE role. By the time this magazine is published, I will have left my post, so this is my last column for BBT. After almost six years with ACTE, it is time to move on. It’s been a great pleasure writing this column for the past year, but future ACTE events are on my to-do list!
Stephanie Smook is regional director EMEA of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (
acte.org)
2020 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 123
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