Business tourism maintains its upward trend and is part of a sector that is consolidating and injecting significant income into destinations. But like the rest of this industry, emerging technologies and changing consumer habits are driving a true transformation of corporate or business travel with new ways to offer and provide services to this type of traveler. Below you’ll find a report in which we point out the trends that will be the key in shaping the business travel segment during this year.
Tailor-made Trips
The first of the new trends goes through customization. Travelers in this segment demand more tailor-made trips. An ever-easier request to resolve through data extracted through the use of business intelligence and analytics, which will help improve the customer experience. In addition, the study warns that these types of tools should be applied at each stage of the client’s journey. The starting point can be the automatic recognition of potential customers in this segment when dialing from a known number, and continue with the analysis of the traveler’s previous behavior to offer truly unique tourism products and services. A personalized trip reduces stress and adapts better to preferences and, in this sense, managers must know how to manage and value the benefits that personalized travel experiences bring to the performance of their employees.
B-leisure Trips
Although the trip is for business, you’ll also want to take advantage of your free time for leisure. These travelers draw increasingly blurred lines between work and personal life, so the so-called ‘bleisure’ trips are on the rise and it is a trend that continues. Hence, it is urged that the improvement of travel policies will offer the possibility of combining business with leisure.
Flexibility
Along these same lines, destinations that add experiences will earn points. In addition to leisure, experiences that enrich the traveler are included, above all, linked to the local culture, which is even more appreciated after a long day of work. Staying active, exploring the destination and making the most of the time instead of rushing your stay to leave as soon as possible is the motto that prevails among business travelers. In the trend to personalize each departure, business travelers have begun to have more autonomy in terms of choice of flights and accommodation according to their preferences. This demand for flexibility is predicted to increase in the hands of millennials, who will represent almost half of tourism spending in the coming years and will emerge as a consumer force. Therefore, the obligation on the part of companies to adapt their corporate travel policies to adapt to their needs and expand the options that allow employees to organize their own itineraries will grow. What allows additionally flexibility during business trips is also having your own rental car to move around.
Technological advancements and contribution
There are already airlines, hotels and travel sellers that this year will present a series of new technologies to meet the growing expectations of travelers. Big Data, process automation and the Internet of Things will improve the customer experience, allow the synchronization of experiences on various devices, and will have a role in simple control systems, such as lighting, air conditioning and heating, according to the preferences of the guests.