As the travel market gradually recovers, pent-up demand for business travel is first released. According to a white paper on business travel to be released by Ctrip, the average confidence index of business travelers and enterprises in the recovery of business travel reaches 8.5 points. Nearly 90 percent of "business travelers" express a high willingness to travel, and are more eager for "comfortable", "safe" and "efficient" travel experience.
On April 23, Ctrip's 2022-2023 Business Travel Management Market White Paper will be officially released. This white paper takes "Breaking dawn · Awakening" as the core keyword, and draws data conclusions on the recovery of the business travel market from multiple perspectives, such as the "breaking dawn" trend of the global business travel market, the "awakening" of the ideology of data intelligent management, and the "change and transition" of the demand of travelers.
Global business travel is already showing an initial surge in demand
According to a report released by GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) in August 2022, the global business travel market is expected to recover to 81% of the pre-epidemic level in 2023, among which China is expected to recover to 75% of the pre-epidemic level in 2022, and 89% in 2023, and the growth rate of business travel expenditure is expected to reach 18.9%. That's a big increase from 2022. The "dawn" in the global business travel market may have come early as more and more travel restrictions are gradually reduced in 2023, with global business travel spending expected to grow by more than 24%.
Focusing on the domestic business travel market, according to the research results of the White Paper on business travel, more small and medium-sized enterprises, private enterprises and Sino-foreign joint ventures expect domestic travel to recover to the level of 2019 in 2024, among which, medium and large enterprises and wholly foreign-owned enterprises are relatively more expected to recover in 2023. 84.5 percent of companies expect their domestic travel budgets to increase in 2023. The average confidence index for business travel recovery reached 8.5 points for corporate travel managers and employees on the road, and business travelers' willingness to travel continued to increase.
More than 90% of travelers want to take hybrid trips
According to a white paper survey, travelers are more eager for "comfortable", "safe" and "efficient" travel experiences. For example, when taking a plane, train and other transportation, we prefer smooth, safe, smooth and comfortable; When checking into the hotel, we pay more attention to the flexible return policy and accommodation service quality and catering...
This year's white paper of Ctrip Business Travel has further elaborated on the trend of "hybrid" business travel + leisure. According to the survey, nearly 90% of business travelers have a high willingness to travel, and more than 90% of business travelers may take the opportunity to visit when they are on business trips. More and more people are combining business with pleasure, taking time off from business trips to explore the local area, or taking a vacation after a conference.
Enterprise travel digitization values "value", and keeps "awakening" awareness of management and control
The white paper found that more than 30% of corporate travel spending will account for more than 10% of total spending in 2022, an increase compared with 2021. Among them, the proportion of travel expenditure of large enterprises and state-owned enterprises in the total expenditure has increased significantly, ranging from 18% to 20%. With the increase of corporate travel budget, the proportion of corporate travel expenditure is also increasing, and corporate travel cost has become one of the main costs. For travel managers, it is difficult to control expenses and employees complain about funds. Enterprises hope to achieve scientific cost control, cost reduction and efficiency improvement through digital management methods.
When choosing suppliers, the "value" of business travel management is more important than price. From exploration to intensive cultivation, enterprises pay more attention to the application of intelligent system and digital intelligence technology. How to get through internal and external systems of enterprises has become the primary problem. To this end, Ctrip continues to enable intelligent travel management through in-depth technology, such as intelligent back-end management, digital intelligence management reports, compliance monitoring, and system integration and docking ability with the business travel ecosystem, to meet the needs of standardization and customization of enterprises.
Trends such as "business travel + low-carbon" and "business travel +AI" are also outlined in the white paper. For the application of AI in travel, Ctrip has cooperated with Baidu Wenxin Yiyi to deepen the layout of "AI+ travel" application and create artificial intelligence solutions for users in online travel service scenarios. The trend of low-carbon business travel has gradually entered the stage of practice and exploration. The survey results show that about 85% of business travelers are willing to choose the flight/hotel with low-carbon logo. In terms of travel management, travel managers believe that reducing paper approval through online management is the most effective measure conducive to low-carbon and sustainable development.
