Business travel in India has been on a steady growth path over the last decade. However, it has now become mandatory to look for solutions to administer increased traffic, optimise results as well as protract and increase the growth of the industry in the wake of ongoing recession in some markets, said industry experts at the recently concluded ATPI Business Travel Forum in Mumbai. The Forum also offered and excellent opportunity for networking, relationship building and interactive educational sessions with Corporate Travel Managers.
The keynote address was delivered by Anna Singh, Assistant Managing Director, the ATPI Group, India. The Forum featured panel discussions on Changing Trends: Rise of Budget Airlines (Europe, India & United States of America); Transparency in TMC operations – Myth or Reality?; Traveler Security & Tracking – Risks, Reality & Need and Payment solutions – Legacy versus credit card – Risks / Reality & Opportunities.
Speakers at the Forum focused on three main strategies to sustain and trap the growing business travel: adopting technology, transparency and consolidation. Sanjay Pai, Head-Travel & Aviation, Larson & Toubro said, “India is yet to have a transparent, competitive model. Technology translation has not still happened here. A meta search engine is necessary to do this.”
According to statistics provided by the GBTA, business travellers worldwide are expected to spend $1.16 trillion on airfare and accommodations in 2013. This is up by over 8 per cent from US$1.07 trillion in 2012. Current growth in business travel is majorly driven by developing nations such as China, India, and Brazil.
“Post the 2008 financial crisis, corporate houses are viewing travel more as a necessity and are adopting a conservative travel policy. They are focusing on RoI. The low-cost carriers are seriously looking at this segment for their growth,” opined Gaurav Sundaram, Country Director, Egencia India, Expedia’s corporate travel organisation, adding that young corporate workforce is going virtual and expects choice and flexibility. “Mobile technology is the future. Travel Policies have gone more conservative. Travel is more of a necessity now and the customer is looking for value in cost and service.”
Elaborating more on the rise of budget airlines, Singh stated, “Low cost airlines have gained 54 per cent market share in India and are growing fast due to the huge middle class and the growing penetration in this segment. The Indian business sector too has caught on to the fancy of the low-cost carriers, driven by the need to reduce costs and also because these carriers have improved their on-time performance.”
During the forum Subhash Kelkar, Chief Information Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India, stated that there’s huge demand for data, analysis and logical answers. “Savings, reporting and technology are paramount alongside corporate governance, risk management and management of corporate social responsibility. Security and tracking has become a necessity due to rise in natural calamities and terrorist strikes. We need to address these issues to increase business travel to India,” he said.
Peter Muller, Chief Operating Officer, ATPI believes that these are challenging times for world economy. “Cost minimisation, raising standards for higher benchmarks and stringent compliance are a necessity. Travel Management Company relationship with corporate companies is changing for long term contracts rather than being just a vendor, he said further adding that partnering with a global TMC will help in supplier negotiation, quality control and give access to databases for lowest logical global fare.
The ATPI Business Travel Forum was organised by Bloomberg TV India’s Conferences and Summits’ division – Pulse.
